Weuseddronestotakephotosfromthe air.

ThisLIDARscanshowsustheshapeofthe land.

Bird's‑eyeView

TobestandingintheshadowofMountEverestisthrilling.AsTheGeographerattheNationalGeographicSociety,InormallyworkinanofficeatheadquartersinWashington,D.C.IworkwithalltheteamsthatmakemapsandprocessgeographicdataattheSociety.Somedays,Idesignmaps.Othertimes,Iworkwithateamtocollectmapdatawithoneofourresearchprograms.AndthatmeansthatIgettodofieldresearch,liketraveling
to Everest!


FortheEverestexpedition,myroleonthescienceteamwastomaptheareaaroundEverestBaseCampandalloftheKhumbuGlacier,thehighestglacieronEarth.Todothiswork,wecollectmappingdatausingtoolsontheground,ondrones,andonhelicopters.Wephotographalltheareaswewanttomap,andweuseatechnologycalledLIDAR.Itusesabeamoflighttomeasuretheshapeoftheland.Thenwebringthisdatahometocreatea map.

Usingdronesathighaltitudeishardworkforthedroneandforus!Theairisthinnerhere,andthebladesofthepropellersonthedronesneedtobesteepertohavemore“bite”astheyspin.ThecameraonthedronepointsdownatEarthandtakesdetailedpictures.Wecanstitchallthepicturestogetherintoabigmosaic.Thisiscalledaphoto‑map,andweuseittoseewhattheenvironmentlooksliketoday.Wecanthencompareittopast maps.

Ateammemberusedadroneto helpmapEverestBase Camp.

Ourteampracticedtakinganice core.

IceCores

Eachyear,theglacierhasnewsnowfallthatturnsintoice.Overtime,thelayersbuildupintoathickmassofice.Ourteamtookicecoresatseverallocationsalongtheroutetothesummit.What’sanicecore,andwhydoweneedthem?Weuseabigdrillwithahollowcenterthatdrivesdownintothesnowandice.Whenwepullitout,wehavealongpieceoficethatisacrosssectionofthe glacier.


Oncewehavetheicecores,wecanstudythelayersandfindoutwhattheclimatewaslikeinthepast.Ourglacierscientistsalsocollectedsnowsamplestoseehowmuchpollutionisinthe snow.

WeatherStations

Onewaytomeasurethechangingclimateistosetupautomaticweatherstations,orAWS.OurexpeditionputupthehighestAWSintheworld!Wesetupfiveofthesestations.Eachwillmeasuretemperature,precipitation,airpressure,andtheamountofsolarradiation.Eachwillsenddataviasatellitestoacomputer,sowecanmonitortheweather.That’sthe“automatic” part.


Aswecollectdataovermonthsandyears,wecanseehowtheweathercomparestootherplacesinNepalandaroundtheworld.Thelongertherecordyouhave,thebetteryoucanassesshowtheclimateischanging.OnebenefitofAWSdataisthatmeteorologistscanmakebetterforecastsforthosewhoareclimbingEverest,whichwillmakeclimbing safer.

Theteamsetupaweather station.

ScienceandExploration

Theweekspassed.Itwasn’teasy.Wehadtowaitoutsnowstormsandenduregettingsick.Wehadtowatchforavalanchesandunderstandhowhighaltitudewouldaffectour bodies.

Yet,weallreturnedhomesafely.Withthedatawecollectedandwillcontinuetocollect,wecannowspreadthewordaboutwhatishappeningtoourhigh mountains.

LIFEAT
THEEXTREMES

Theexpeditionhascollectednewdataaboutweatherandclimate.Tofindoutmore,visitnatgeo.com/everest