Glaciers flow downhill from the Himalayas’ northern slopes onto China’s Tibetan Plateau

iss074e0603582 (May 20, 2026) --- The Himalayas separate Nepal from China in this photograph from the International Space Station as it orbited 259 miles above the western Tibetan Plateau. Glaciers—slow‑moving rivers of ice that carve paths into mountainsides—flow downhill from the Himalayas’ northern slopes onto China's Tibetan Plateau.