If you have ever hiked in the high peaks of Colorado, the Wasatch Range in Utah or the Tetons in Wyoming, you’ve almost certainly seen a rock glacier, perhaps without even knowing it.

Rock glaciers are slow-moving masses of rock debris and ice that flow downhill the same way that glaciers do, but they are covered by a thick layer of rock and boulders that can easily be mistaken for stable ground.

There are at least 1,500 active rock glaciers across the western U.S., and they’re important. That’s because while the icy white glaciers people typically picture have been shrinking and even disappearing, our new study shows that rock glaciers and their frozen water are remaining mostly stable despite rising temperatures.

The thick debris mantle shades the ice, keeping it colder, similar to how ski areas have started covering their slopes with reflective blankets in summer to stave off melting. The result is that rock glaciers continue to provide meltwater for streams in summer as they always have, but they aren’t disappearing.

Climate refuge among Tetons’ shrinking glaciers

We study glaciers around the world. In the new paper, we examine how different types of glaciers are changing beneath the soaring peaks of the Teton Range of........

© The Conversation