New height of Mount Everest

The Foreign Ministers of Nepal and China jointly certified the elevation of Mount Everest at 8,848.86 metres above sea level 86 cm higher than what was recognised since 1954.

Daily Current Affairs Quiz 2020

Key-Points

The common declaration meant that the two countries have shed their long-standing difference in opinion about the mountain’s height 29,017 feet (8,844 m) claimed by China and 29,028 ft (8,848 m) by Nepal. In feet, the new elevation is about 29,031 ft, or about 3 ft higher than Nepal’s previous claim.

This was determined by the Survey of India in 1954, using instruments like theodolites and chains, with GPS still decades away.

The elevation of 8,848 m came to be accepted in all references worldwide — except by China. Mount Everest rises from the border between Nepal and China.

The devastating earthquake of April 2015 triggered a debate among scientists on whether it had affected the height of the mountain.

The Nepal’s government subsequently declared that it would measure the mountain on its own, instead of continuing to follow the Survey of India findings of 1954.