Close-Up of Mount Everest
An astronaut onboard the International Space Station (ISS) took this near-nadir (almost straight down) photograph of Mount Everest. Such imagery provides a unique perspective on Earth’s tallest mountain (on dry land), which towers approximately 8848 meters (29,029 feet) above sea level.
This world-renowned summit sits on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau—a region sometimes called the “Roof of the World.” Everest continues to rise skyward by approximately 1 centimeter per year due to the progressive uplift of the crust caused by the convergence of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates.
Many glaciers flow down from the high snow-covered peaks on the plateau. As glaciers descend to lower and warmer elevations, much of the moving ice mass becomes obscured by rock debris (known as moraines) that accumulates on the top, sides, and terminus of the ice. As the glaciers melt, debris entrained in the ice can be deposited as sediments that geologists call glacial till.