The Mount Everest. Image Credit: RMI Expeditions

Nepal to Measure Mount Everest Next Year

Nepal will measure Mount Everest next year to see if it has lost height. The campaign has been announced to settle a controversy over the height of the world’s tallest peak, especially after some estimates suggested it became a little shorter in the wake of an earthquake two years ago, as per the officials.

Nepal, being the home of Mount Everest and half of the world’s 14 highest mounts, has never measured the peak on its own and uses its snow height of 8,848 meters that was measured by the Survey of India in 1954.

Many western climbers use the height of 8,850 meters (29,035 feet) determined in 1999 by the National Geographic Society and Boston’s Museum of Science, in a survey that used satellite-based technology to measure the peak. Everest straddles the border between Nepal and China, and in 2005, Chinese mountaineers and researchers put its height at 8,844.43 meters.

The director in government’s Survey Department, Mr. Ganesh Prasad Bhatta said an expedition would be made next year to settle the debate. Bhatta said to the Reuters, “We are now developing a methodology for the measurement which will be discussed with international experts, and their advice will be incorporated to make sure that our work meets global standards and is internationally accepted.”

He further explained that Nepal lacked scientific tools to measure Mount Everest like Global Positioning System and leveling equipment as well as gravimeters, but, would hire what was needed from the experts and related agencies like the International Association of Geodesy.

Anil Marasini, another official with the Survey Department said, “If the weather conditions on the mountain are good, we will start the work in the summer climbing season next year or in the autumn of 2018.”

The officials said that they would seek to establish whether a 7.8 magnitude earthquake in April 2015 had altered the mountain’s height.

The massive earthquake in 2015 occurred during the peak climbing season and killed 18 people at the base camp.

 

Source: The Himalayan Times