The height of Mount Everest has officially increased. This was reported by the BBC citing a joint statement by the Foreign Ministries of China and Nepal.
Chinese and Nepalese surveyors and officials came to the conclusion that the real height of Mount Everest (Chomolungma) should be considered an indicator of 8848.86 meters. Reporters reported that the agreement put an end to disputes between the Chinese and Nepalese sides. The reason for the controversy was the fact that China and Nepal calculated the parmameters of the highest elevation on the planet according to different criteria.
Representatives of the Chinese authorities believed that Everest should be measured directly by the height of the rock, the Nepalese – that the snow cap on the top of the mountain range should also be included in the height indicator. In particular, in 2005, Chinese surveyors calculated that the height of Everest is 8,844.43 meters. The indicator of 8848 meters, which was used by Nepalese experts, was calculated back in 1954 by surveyors from India.
The final agreement on the joint measurement of Everest was adopted during the visit of the President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping a> to Nepal in 2019.
Reporters noted that controversy over the height of Everest also arose in 2015, when a series of strong tremors occurred in Nepal. The disaster killed about nine thousand people. Some surveyors believed that the earthquake could have affected the mountain’s height, causing the snow cap to shrink.
At the beginning of the year, British scientists reported that the area on Everest began to increase vegetation. It turned out that at four different heights (from 4150 to 6000 meters) above sea level, there was a significant spread of plants. The corresponding conclusions were made after analyzing satellite data.