glacier

Greenland is melting, the Alps are melting and the Himalayas are melting -- yet in one vast mountain region, huge glaciers have remained stable, or even gained mass, in recent decades.

The RRS Sir David Attenborough, a state-of-the-art ship named after the renowned UK naturalist, will aid research on everything from "hunting underwater tsunamis" to tracking glacier melt and whale populations.

The Mendenhall Glacier, one of the biggest tourist attractions in the region, is part of the Juneau Ice Field, a mass of interconnected glaciers that straddles the boundaries of Alaska and British Columbia, Canada.

First-time visitors have been awestruck by pristine fjords and magnificent glaciers, gushing over stunning, untouched landscape.

There are similar stories for many glaciers all over the planet, because these frozen rivers of ice are retreating - fast.