Weuseddronestotakephotosfromthe air.

ThisLIDARscanshowsustheshapeofthe land.

Bird's‑eyeView

TobestandingintheshadowofMountEverestisexciting.Inormallyworkinanoffice.IworkwithalltheteamsthatmakemapsatNationalGeographic.Ialsohelpcollectdatabytaking“fieldtrips,”likethis expedition.


Forthisexpedition,myrolewastomaptheareaaroundEverestBaseCamp.IalsomappedtheKhumbuGlacier,thehighestglacieron Earth.


Wecollecteddatausingmanytools.Ontheground,weusedatechnologycalledLIDAR.Itusesabeamoflighttomeasuretheshapeoftheland.Fromtheair,weflewinhelicopterstophotographareaswewantedto map.

Wealsouseddrones.Usingdronesathighaltitudewashardwork!Theairisthinnerhere.Sothepropellersneededtobesteepertohavemore“bite”astheyspin.AcameraonthedronepointsdownatEarth.Ittakesdetailed pictures.


Wecanstitchallthepicturestogethertomakeabiggerpicture.Wecanusethisphoto‑maptoseewhatthearealooksliketoday.Wecanalsocompareittopast maps.

AteammemberusedadronetohelpmapEverestBase Camp.

Theteampracticedtakinganice core.

IceCores

Ourteamtookicecoresatseverallocations,too.What’sanicecoresandwhydoweneedit?Anicecoreisalongpieceoficethatisacrosssectionoftheglacier.Weuseabigdrillto pullit out.


Oncewehaveicecores,wecanstudyaglacier’slayers.Wecanfindoutaboutwhattheclimatewaslikeinthepast.Wealsocollectedsnowsamplestoseehowmuchpollutionwasinthe snow.

WeatherStations

Tomeasurethechangingclimate,ourteamsetupautomaticweatherstations,orAWS.Wesetupfivestations.Eachwillmeasuretemperature,precipitation,pressure,andsolarradiation.Eachwillsenddataviasatellitestoacomputer.Thatway,wecanmonitorthe weather.


Overtime,wecanseehowtheweathercomparestootherplacesinNepalandaroundtheworld.Thelongertherecord,thebetterwecanassesshowtheclimateischanging.Betterweatherforecastswillalsomakeclimbing safer.

Theteamsetupaweather station.

ScienceandExploration

Theweekspassed.Itwasn’teasy.Wehadtowaitoutsnowstorms.Wehad towatchforavalanchesandlearnhowthehighaltitudewouldaffectour bodies.

Yet,weallreturnedhomesafe.Withthedatawecollectedandwillcollect,wecanspreadthewordaboutwhatishappeningtoourhigh mountains.

LIFEAT
THEEXTREMES

Theexpeditionhascollectednewdataaboutweatherandclimate.Tofindoutmore,visitnatgeo.com/everest