Nepal Earthquake effect: Correct height of Mt Everest to be verified
- The Mt Everest height was declared, last correctly, in 1855
- The major doubt is that the mountain is shrinking
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The Survey of India would soon "re-measure" the height of Mount Everest to verify doubts expressed over it in some sections of the scientific community following the major earthquake in Nepal two years ago and to help scientific studies, Surveyor General of India Swarna Subba Rao said.
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"We are sending an expedition to Mount Everest. The Everest height was declared, if I remember correctly, in 1855. Many others also measured it. But the height given by Survey of India, even today, is taken as the correct height. It is 29,028 ft. We are re-measuring it. Two years have passed since the major Nepal earthquake. After that, there is a doubt in the scientific community that it is shrinking. That is one of the reasons. Second reason is, it helps in scientific studies, plate movements etc," he said.
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All the necessary approvals have been obtained for the expedition and the effort should begin in a month, he said on the sidelines of a meeting of Geospatial World Forum. "I have got all the approvals. MEA (Ministry of External Affairs) also done. If the Surveyor General of Nepal has come here (for the conference in Hyderabad), I will have a meeting with him. As I see it, we plan to send (the expedition team) in two months," Subba Rao said.
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The endeavour would take about a month for observation and another 15 days for computation and declaration of data, Subba Rao said. The height of Mount Everest is planned to be measured this time by two methods - using Global Positioning System(GPS) and a ground method.
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"There are two methods. One is GPS. It is a survey instrument. It looks like a transistor. If you put it on the summit, say for 10 minutes, it tells you the height. That is one. The second is, ground method. Triangulation. We observe. The height can be calculated from ground," he added.
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Rao said the measurement is being done by the two methods for better confirmation of the findings. Â "We are doing at the same time by both methods for better confirmation," he added. Â A deadly 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Nepal in 2015, killing thousands of people and altering the landscape across the Himalayan nation.
