Mount Everest is more than two feet taller, China and Nepal announce on December 08, 2020. Based on parallel surveys conducted by the two countries, the new height measurement is not yet set in stone as scientists and mapmakers prepare to analyze the findings. The new official height is 8,848.86 meters (29,032 feet), China’s official Xinhua News Agency said on Tuesday, slightly more than Nepal’s previous measurement and about four meters higher than China’s.

A Chinese measurement in 2005 determined that the rock height of the summit – known as Chomolungmu and Sagamartha in local languages – was 8,844.43 meters (29,017 feet), about 3.7 meters (11 feet) less than the 1954 estimate.

The new measurement will have little practical impact. K2, the world’s second highest mountain, is 237 meters lower. The new height would be based on trigonometric and GPS measurements carried out by Nepal and China. Nepal had sent a team of surveyors to the top of the peak in May 2019, while China sent a team earlier this year.

It was the first time Nepal had independently carried out such measurements amid speculation of a possible change in height due to global warming and a 2015 earthquake.

Nepal earlier recognized 8,848 meters as Mount Everest’s official snow height which was the finding of a survey conducted by the Survey of India in the early 1950s. But more recent measurements had come up with different figures.

The reason why the newly agreed figure may be temporary is because the 2,900km-long Himalayan chain is located on, and was formed by, the uplift caused by the colliding Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates, which are continuing to push up the Himalaya at an average of 1cm every year.