The “Pamir-Karakoram anomaly” refers to the exception observed in the mountain ranges adjacent to Pakistan, India and China, where some glaciers are stable or even expanding.
Three hypotheses could explain this exceptional phenomenon:
1. A change in the monsoon would lead to a drop in summer temperatures and thus contribute to a significant reduction in melting.
2. An increase in the intensity of precipitation in winter and spring, due to a change in the interaction between the monsoon and western disturbances, extratropical storms that originate in the Mediterranean region.
3. The water generated by high evapotranspiration (the sum of evaporation and plant transpiration) would return to the atmosphere and be transported to the high altitudes of the Pamir, where it would then fall to earth as snow. This is because the Pamir-Karakorum valley has one of the largest irrigated areas in the world.
