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| Sunday, September 5, 2010 |
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State-of-art measurements show Mount Everest is still growing
By John Poirier |
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John Poirier
REUTERS
13-Nov-1999 Saturday
WASHINGTON -- Mount Everest, the world's highest mountain, is even taller than scientists thought, and is still growing.
Using sophisticated satellite systems, climbers measured Everest at 29,035 feet -- about 5 1/2 miles high -- in May.
That is 7 feet above the previous official measurement of 29,028 feet, made in 1954 by the Survey of India, scientists said yesterday.
"It's not that it's much higher but it's a more sophisticated understanding of the darn thing," Bradford Washburn, 89, a mountain explorer and honorary director of Boston's Museum of Science, which supported the expedition to Everest, said in a telephone interview.
The National Geographic Society, which also helped fund the expedition, said it would accept the new elevation and update its flat wall map of the mountain.
"National Geographic is accepting this new elevation for Everest because it is clearly the most authoritative and thoroughly executed measurement of the highest point on the Earth's surface," said Allan Carroll, the
society's chief cartographer.
Washburn added that the data had been received with "enthusiastic approval" by the U.S. National Imagery and Mapping Agency and China's National Bureau of Surveying and Mapping.
Washburn said a team of seven climbers, led by Pete Athans and Bill Crouse, measured the mountain May 5 for a duration of 50 minutes, using sophisticated satellite-based technology, called the Global Positioning System.
Data were gathered using signals sent from orbiting GPS satellites to two GPS receivers -- one on Everest's summit and another placed at 26,000 feet.
Athans has reached the summit of Everest six times, a feat no other Westerner has surpassed. More than 180 people have died in attempts to reach the highest point on Earth.
"It was pleasant on top of the world that morning, just a little wind and 12 (degrees) F below," Athans said. "The equipment worked without a problem."
Data gathered over past years revealed a changing Everest, which is situated in Asia's Himalayas, a mountain range that spans parts of Tibet, China and northern India.
Dispatches and photographs from the expedition can be found at the
National Geographic Web site: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/everest/
Copyright Reuters Limited 1999 |
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