High peaks in Nepal

Picture taken from Mera glacier in Nepal, showing Kusuk Khangkaru and Kyashar peaks. Providing water for drinking, irrigation and power, glaciers in mountains such as these are a lifeline for more than a billion people. High-mountain Asia stretches from the Tien Shan and Hindu Kush in the northwest, to the eastern Himalayas in the southeast. The area is also part of what is known as ‘the third pole’ because these high-altitude ice fields contain the largest reserve of freshwater outside the polar regions. However, research published recently Nature Geosciences describes how a multitude of satellite images have been used to reveal that there has actually been a slowdown in the rate at which glaciers slide down the high mountains of Asia.