Mount Everest not as high as you think it is…

The tallest mountain in the world, Mount Everest, is reported to be 3.7m shorter than its last measurement of 8,848.13m making it 8,844.43m in height. The survey, which was carried out by a team of 50 Chinese experts in May this year, is reported to be based on the “most elaborate and precise measurement techniques.”

The new height measurement of Mount Qomolangma, the Tibetan name of the rock, compares with the last measurement made by the Chinese back in 1975 and turned out be shorter than the last measurement of 29,031.3 ft.

The latest measurement was made by a team jointly organized by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping (SBSM), Chen Bangzhu, Director General of the bureau, told journalists on Sunday. "Actually the Qomolangma region is a place where the earth's crust is moving, but the new measurement that we have announced is based on the height of the peak's rock surface. Before we were unable to measure the height of the rock surface, this time we measured the thickness of the ice to get the actual height of the rock surface.", he said.

So, Chen said the data did not mean the mountain had shrunk since it was last measured, but that previous measurements were less accurate. "This data... is lower than the one published in 1975. This is because the Qomolangma Mountain is located in an area with very active block movement," he said, while stressing that more research was needed to exactly determine whether Mt Everest has indeed shrunk in height. He also added that the accuracy of the measurement had a range of plus or minus 0.21m, while the thickness of the ice at the summit was measured at 3.5m.

"The elevation data of Mt Qomolangma published in 1975 will cease to be used within China," he said while acknowledging that it would take some time for other countries and world bodies to accept the newly acquired data concerning the peak.

China used the latest technology in measuring the mountain, including satellite equipment belonging to the Global Positioning System (GPS), laser technologies and theodolites. The whole measurement operation on top of the mountain took 48 hours

The newest measurement also differs from a 1999 measurement by American scientists also using GPS satellite equipment that found the height of the mountain at 8 850m.The successful measurement of Mt. Qomolangma will play a significant role in demonstrating China's overall national strength and surveying and mapping technology level, promoting geosciences research. Growing or not, Everest is changing in other ways: its glaciers are shrinking on the Chinese side faster than ever because of global warming, official media have reported.