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KATHMANDU: The highest point on Earth rose a bit higher on Tuesday (December 8) when China and Nepal finally agreed on a precise elevation for Mount Everest after decades of debate.
The agreed height released at a joint press conference in Kathmandu of 8,848.86 m was 86 cm higher than the previously recognized measurement by Nepal, and more than four meters above the official figure for China.
The discrepancy was due to China measuring the base of the rock at the top and not, as with the new reading, the snow and ice coverage at the top.
The earlier discrepancy was due to China measuring the base of the rock at the top and not, as with the new reading, the snow and ice coverage at the AFP / PRAKASH MATHEMA peak.
TRIGONOMETRY
Using trigonometry hundreds of miles away on the Indian plains, British colonial geographers first determined the height of Everest in 1856 at 8,840 m above sea level.
After Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa first reached the top of Everest on May 29, 1953, an Indian study readjusted the altitude to 8,848 m.
That move was widely accepted, and the number attracted not only ambitious mountaineers, but also inspiring names for adventure clothing lines, restaurants, and even a vodka.
In 1999, the National Geographic Society of the USA concluded that the highest point in the world was 8,850 m. But Nepal never officially recognized this new height, although it is widely cited.
Meanwhile, China conducted several surveys, and in 2005 came up with a measurement of 8,844.43 m.
This sparked a dispute with Nepal that was only resolved in 2010 when Kathmandu and Beijing agreed that their measurements referred to different things, one at the height of the Everest rock and the other at the height of its snow cover.
The agreed height of Everest was 86 centimeters (2.8 feet) higher than the previous measurement AFP / Jewel SAMAD
TECTONIC PLATES
Nepal decided to conduct the study, the first time it did, after suggestions that plate tectonic movements, including a major earthquake in 2015, may have affected altitude.
About 300 Nepalese experts and surveyors participated in the exercise, some walking on foot with others using helicopters to reach the data collection stations.
Last spring, Nepalese surveyors reached the top of Everest with more than 40 kg of equipment, including a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver.
They spent roughly two frozen hours collecting data as dozens of climbers stood at the top of the mountain.
“Climbing Everest alone is a challenging task, but we also had to measure it,” Khim Lal Gautam, an official with the Research Department who lost a frozen toe on the expedition, told AFP.
READ: Climbers are twice as likely to summit Mount Everest, but ‘death zone’ crowding increases: Study
CHINA’S PARTICIPATION
Nepal was supposed to release the results earlier this year, but then China got involved after a visit to Nepal in October 2019 by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
This year, a Chinese inspection expedition had a calmer workspace at the summit as they were the only climbers on a closed mountain due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Dang Yamin, an expert with the National Bureau of Topography and Cartography, told the Chinese state broadcaster CCTV that the final result was an average value between the measurements of Nepal and China, according to scientific rules.
“The final height was concluded after both parties shared and processed data jointly,” said Damodar Dhakal, spokesman for the Nepal Studies Department.
