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Everest, which straddles Nepal and China, is generally thought to stand at 8,848 metres (29,029 feet) after an Indian survey in 1954, but other more recent measurements have varied by several metres.
Everest is the world's tallest peak, no question. However, its exact height has been the subject of an escalating spat between its two co-owners — China and Nepal — for decades. Now, Nepal is setting out to settle the issue once and for all, the BBC writes.
Last year, the two countries agreed on a single height of 8,848m, recorded by an Indian survey in 1955. But each country believes the mountain should be measured in different ways. China identifies the peak by the height of its rock, while Nepal looks four meters higher, to the top of its snow cap.
Nepal's continued irritation at China's rock-height stance, particularly during border negotiations, has caused the smaller nation to remeasure the peak for itself.
"We have begun the measurement to clear this confusion. Now we have the technology and the resources, we can measure (Everest) ourselves," Gopal Giri, a Nepal government spokesperson, told an AFP news agent, as mentioned in the BBC story. "This will be the first time the Nepal government has taken the mountain's height."
Measuring the world's tallest mountain is looking like a tall order, and Nepal is gearing up to do this using GPS tracking from three locations over two years, Giri said.
Nepal may have the final word for now, but its victory might be short lived. Some geologists believe that Everest is getting taller every day, the BBC writes, from the Indian tectonic plate sliding into and under the Asian plate, raising the height of the summit by a tiny bit every year.
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Nidhi Subbaraman writes about science and technology at msnbc.com. Find her on Twitter or Google+, and join our conversation on the Cosmic Log Facebook page.
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Doesn't Nepal understand that it is the rock height ASL that is the standard around the world? Snow caps change and especially with a warmer planet. I sure like that banding. An ancient sea bottom raised up to that altitude.
I guess they couldn't figure out a better thing to spend their money or time on
I say we (America) make it a moot point...Let's start piling up all the BS coming out of Washington, and in a few weeks it will be the second tallest peak...then we can start piling up "dollar" sized pieces of paper, to represent our debt and make it the third tallest
Since the last measurement was in 1955, 56 years of 'growing' at 3" per year would be another 4 meters (14 feet).
At any rate, I think the high rock height should prevail, since snowfall could vary by season and year.
Perhaps a flat plate should be put at the high rock point to monitor the changes each year by satellite using radar or laser, like they do with the moon.
What is scary, is that Nepal just now has the technology to measure it! That $100 GPS unit is beyond them I guess.
But, with today's technology (well even yesterdays). If they know the elevation they are standing at, and they have a surveyors instrument and maybe a laser range finder, they can just find the distance to the highest rock, measure the angle up from horizontal and calculate the height using trig...or has that technology not made it Nepal yet either?
Survey-grade GPS costs tens of thousands of dollars and without ground-based corrections (WAAS) and static stations within a reasonable (five mile) distance of the rover on the peak, getting anything better than 10 meters ± out of one of those would be miraculous. Ground-based network corrections take years to install and implement and cost many millions of dollars.
To say that a $100 handheld "navigator" could get you closer than within 100' (or better) is purely ignorant of how GPS works.
It's a matter of national pride, you see - the Nepalese are hoping that their original, genuine Mount Everest is taller than the cheap Chinese knockoff Mount Everest.
LFMAO!
Comment of the week!
Hasn't a science satellite already made the rock peak measurement?
Why don't they just have a satellite bounce a signal off it. They do it for the ocean all the time.
The Nepalese just likes to stick it to the Chinese.
Doesn't matter what height they come up with, it's going to be different(upward) each year, until it 'calves'. Then it'll go down.
What a waste of time for 12' give or take. I would only climb it if it was 25' less.
Technically, Mauna Loa in Hawaii is taller (9170m) than Everest (8848m), but you have to count where Mauna Loa starts from the ocean floor. Since it is a a very active volcano, Mauna Loa is also continually growing as well.
True, but not vertically - Mauna Loa is a shield volcano with a caldera. The lava just oozes out the side. The Hawaiian Islands are continually subsiding, disappearing back into the Pacific Ocean.
Since the earth is not perfectly spherical, there are lots of different ways to measure ASL (Above Sea Level). Just a couple years ago we discovered to our surprise that there's another "Fourteener" in Colorado - Shunshine Peak is "exactly" 14,0001' high. All it would take is one climber with a rock axe to demote it.
Some people say that K2 is higher than Everest anyway.
Some people say that K2 is higher than Everest anyway.
There's some mountain peak in Equador I think that is farther from the Equator than Everest, as someone stated earlier, the Earth isn't a perfect sphere. Would that be considered higher?
You have to take into account for geoidal height and distance ABOVE SEA LEVEL, not distance from the center of the earth.
It is about 8800 meters more than I am willing to climb so unless the Nepalese government finds a huge discrepancy, I wont be visiting it any time soon.LOL
Hard to believe they can't agree over a few feet. Slow news day?
Are Nepalese scientists or whatever they call themselves stupid or what?
Measurement has to be the heght of the rock not snow. Snow heights change, can melt given global warming.
Confucius say "this is like two boys arguing over the size of their penis, it is not the magnitude of the mountain, rather, it is the motion of the ocean".
Thank-you for the report, Nepal. It is an innegligable concern, whether or not Mt. Everest diminishes. We lose too much off of that old 'lightning rod' and the temperature of the Earth in your locale shall drop, causing large problems with Chinese water supply. Again, Nepal, Thank-you. Your efforts are neither unnoticed nor under-appreciated.