Mount Everest to be measured

2005-01-25 08:40

China - China will send a scientific team to measure the height of Mount Everest, state media reported on Tuesday, citing worries that global warming may be causing the world's highest peak to shrink.

The State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping, working with the Chinese national women's mountaineering expedition, will use radar and global positioning system equipment to remeasure the peak, known in Chinese as Mount Qomolangma, the state-run newspaper China Daily reported.

China last conducted such research in 1975, it said.

Everest is now said to be 8 848 metres high. The newspaper said a recent survey found the peak of Everest had dropped by 1.3 metres due to melting of glaciers resulting from global warming. It did not give any details on that survey.

However, Nepalese Sherpas who often climb the peak have reported seeing widespread evidence of receding snowlines due to warmer temperatures that are said to result from greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere.

- AP