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Gardner: The track we’re looking at today passed very
close to the summit of Everest. It was only about 640 meters from the summit.
Now one of the unique things about ICESat-2 is it’s actually able to see down into
the valleys of these very steep topography areas where the glaciers
are. And so there’s other instruments, like radar, that aren’t able to see the glaciers
all the way down in the valleys. And so ICESat-2 is going to let us measure
the changes in mountain glaciers so we can assess how they’re responding to changes in
climate and what potential they have to contribute to sea level rise in the future
but also changes in water resources. Glaciers in this region
have been experiencing rapid rates of thinning. And that thinning is
in response to changes in climate. Not only are these glaciers thinning, but as they
thin, there’s less force pulling them downward. And that less force pulling them
downward is causing them to actually slow down. So in High Mountain Asia
we actually have glaciers that are thinning and slowing down as they respond to climate.
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