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December 9, 2020 07:00 am

Mount Everest, Earth's Tallest Mountain, Just Got Taller By About a Meter

China and Nepal say they have determined the "most accurate height of Everest that we have ever had," calculating it to be about 8,848.86 meters (29,031.7 feet) high. That's almost a meter taller than the mountain's previous recognized height. CNET reports: The two countries, which border each other at the mountain's summit, shared the news in a joint virtual briefing Tuesday that was streamed live online. Nepal began remeasuring the mountain in 2017, and China began its own work after Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Nepal in 2019. As part of the complicated measurement, researchers placed signal receivers on the mountain and measured the amount of time it took signals to travel between the receiver and satellites to figure out the new height. Global positioning devices and ground-penetrating radar were also used. Nepal's lead surveyor Khimlal Gautam ended up with damaged toes due to frostbite he suffered while installing the measuring equipment. A 2015 earthquake in Nepal helped inspire the re-measurement of Everest. The BBC notes that some geologists thought that quake could've shrunk the mountain's snow cap, while others note that Himalayan peaks can actually grow taller over time as shifting tectonic plates push them upward.

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