( CNN ) -- A heavily glaciated region of the Himalayas is bucking the trend of global ice loss and showing small signs of increasing in mass , according to a new study . Data examining six regions in the Karakoram mountains in the western Himalayas , which contains 7,700 square miles ( nearly 20,000 square kilometers ) of glaciers , revealed more than half of them are either stable or have been advancing in recent years . French scientists observed the size and shape of ice covering 2,168 square miles ( 5,615 square kilometers ) in central Karakoram using satellite data from the Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission ( STRM ) and the Satellite Pour l'Observation de la Terre ( SPOT5 ) . Between 1999 and 2008 the glaciers gained , on average , the water equivalent of around 11 centimeters a year , according to the study published in the journal Nature Geoscience . Lead author , Julie Gardelle from University of Grenoble in France says explanations for this increase are still not clear , but might lie in the localized climate . `` Studies have already reported an increase in winter precipitation and a lowering of summer temperatures since the 1960s in low-altitude valleys of Karakoram , '' Gardelle said . `` Given the wide extent of high mountain Asia , we can not expect the climate to be uniform over the whole range , so a peculiar atmospheric behavior over Karakoram may not be surprising , '' she added . The study confirms an anomaly in the region which was put forward in 2005 and contrasts with the experience of the central and eastern Himalayas where most glaciers are shrinking , say researchers . That story is one which is being repeated globally , say the World Glacier Monitoring Service ( WGMS ) and has been since the end of the Little Ice Age around 150 years ago . WGMS estimate that since 1980 the cumulative average thickness loss of monitored glaciers across the world has been 11.3 meters . Despite the overall picture of retreat , there are instances where glaciers are able to re-advance and Karakoram is an example , says WGMS director Michael Kemp . `` The Himalayas is the highest mountain range on Earth with the highest elevation difference . It 's a huge area . So we expect regions ( of it ) to act a bit different , '' Kemp said . Glacier data in the wider Himalayan region hit the headlines in 2010 when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change had to apologize for a `` poorly substantiated '' study they cited which claimed all Himalayan glaciers could melt by 2035 . Kemp told CNN at the time that the data , which found its way into their Fourth Assessment Report ( AR4 ) , was flawed , saying there were `` simply no observations available to make these sorts of statements . '' But this most recent work using satellites is of great value , he says , giving a picture of what is happening in a region where data has traditionally been scarce due to its remoteness and political issues -- the Karakoram range borders India , Pakistan and China . Despite the slight gains , Gardelle says , the message on climate change remains the same . `` Global warming is far from spatially homogeneous and continuous with time . In our warming world , there are regions of the Earth where , during a few years or decades , the atmosphere is not warming or even cooling , '' Gardelle said . `` Karakoram may be one of those , but we lack consistent high elevation weather station to conclude firmly on this . ''
Glaciers in the Karakoram mountains in western Himalayas are stable or gaining mass , new study says . Data from two satellites reveals small increases since beginning of 21st century . Small gains are in contrast to the picture of melting in rest of Himalayas and in other regions .