WEBVTT FILE

1
00:00:06.773 --> 00:00:08.842
Today on Photon Phriday,

2
00:00:08.842 --> 00:00:13.613
we answer the question, do mountains
wear hats?

3
00:00:13.613 --> 00:00:16.016
This pass that we're looking
at is over Mt.

4
00:00:16.016 --> 00:00:21.388
Rainier in western Washington, which is
the largest of the Cascade volcanoes.

5
00:00:21.388 --> 00:00:26.092
It's also known as Tahoma
or Tacoma to the local Salish people.

6
00:00:26.092 --> 00:00:28.828
On clear windy days Mt.

7
00:00:28.828 --> 00:00:31.898
Rainier has a cloud form on top of it,

8
00:00:31.898 --> 00:00:35.668
as moist air is forced up,
passing over the mountain.

9
00:00:35.668 --> 00:00:40.640
And as it goes up, the air
cools, condenses, and forms the cloud.

10
00:00:40.640 --> 00:00:43.943
This particular type of cloud
is called a lenticular cloud.

11
00:00:43.943 --> 00:00:47.747
And they can look like disks or UFOs.

12
00:00:47.747 --> 00:00:50.984
And they form a cloud hat.

13
00:00:50.984 --> 00:00:56.122
ICESat-2 is providing a wealth of data
for glaciologists here in Washington.

14
00:00:56.156 --> 00:00:59.893
We can take looks at our glaciers
that form on these volcanoes.

15
00:00:59.893 --> 00:01:04.531
And we can see how they change
as we get more and more repeat passes.

16
00:01:04.531 --> 00:01:07.700
This is one of the few occasions
where we have ice,

17
00:01:07.700 --> 00:01:11.538
cloud and land detected by satellite.

18
00:01:11.538 --> 00:01:12.772
So we did it!