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Oct 11, 2008
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Everest Is Higher Than Ever

As of Nov. 11, 1999, the new official height of Mount Everest was announced as 29,035 feet, or 8,850 meters—6 feet, or 2 meters, higher than the previously accepted measurement. The new elevation was determined using satellite-based technology: the Trimble Global Positioning System (GPS). A team of seven climbers measured the mountain from the summit on May 5, 1999, collecting data from various GPS satellite receivers at the very top of Everest. It took the climbers a number of attempts over several years until they were able to successfully set up the equipment at the summit.

Everest was first measured in 1852 in the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India, which established the peak as the highest on Earth. That figure (29,002 feet above sea level) remained Everest’s officially accepted height for more than one hundred years. The original 1852 measurement was remarkably accurate: in 1955 the elevation was adjusted by a mere 26 feet to 29,028 feet (8,848 meters).


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