A Team of Indian Scientists to re-measure Everest Height

A team of Indian Scientists will take the tape measure to Everest to determine whether the twin earthquake in Nepal really did knock an inch off the world’s tallest peak. Satellite data at the time suggested the impact of the quake reduced Everest’s peak — which officially stands at 8,848 meters (29,029 feet) above sea level — by anywhere between a few millimeters and an inch.

But lingering doubt among the scientific community has prompted a fresh expedition to size up the peak, said India’s surveyor general Swarna Subba Rao. “We will remeasure it,” Rao was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency, adding the team would set off in two months. “Two years have passed since the major Nepal earthquake and there’s doubt in the scientific community that it did in fact shrink.”

The exercise will require a month for observation and roughly another fortnight for the data to be officially declared. Another official also told that a five-member team would depart for the everest expedition at the end of winter.

Courtesy:Republica