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| Chinese Mount Qomolangma Expedition members
are on their way to the camp at the altitude of 7,028m on May 19, 2005.
They scaled Mount Qomolangma, also known as Mount Everest, at 11:08 a.m.
May 22, 2005. They are on a mission to remeasure the height of the earth's
summit. (Xinhua Photo) |
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| In this file photo taken on May 19, 2005,
Ji Ji, a member of Chinese mountaineers, starts her journey from a camp at
6,500 meters on May 19, 2005. Chinese mountaineers/researchers scaled
Mount Qomolangma, also known as Mount Everest, at 11:08 on Sunday. They
are on a mission to remeasure the height of the earth's summit. (Xinhua
Photo) |
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| In this file photo taken on May 19, 2005,
Ji Ji(R), a member of Chinese Mount Qomolangma Expedition, makes
preparation for her last rush for the top in a camp at the altitude of
6,500 meters. (Xinhua photo) |
QOMOLANGMA, Tibet, May 22
(Xinhuanet) -- A team of Chinese researchers/mountaineers on a mission to
remeasure the height of Mount Qomolangma scaled the earth's highest peak and
successfully performed measuring operations Sunday.
This is the second measurement endeavor taken by the
Chinese over the past three decades. The first measurement done by Chinesein
1975 reported the height of the world's top mountain at 8,848.13 meters above
sea level.
The 24-member team spent 77 minutes on the top of the
peak, erecting a 2.5-meter-long survey beacon and establishing a GPS (global
positioning system) monitoring station there for height measurement in the next
two days and in the future. The researchers and mountaineers also used a radar
device to detect the thickness of the snow and ice coat of Mount Qomolangma,
which straddles the border between China and Nepal. The final result of the
current measurement will exclude the thickness of ice and snowcapping the peak.
The GPS and radar device, used for the first time by
Chinese surveyors, are for a more precise result. The traditional trigonometric
leveling method, which was used in the 1975 expedition, however, is still used
in this mission for results comparison.
The team started its final assault on the peak at
3:30 a.m. from a camp at 8,300 meters above sea level and scaled the top of the
peak around 11:08, braving strong gales and temperature as lowas minus 29.6
degrees centigrade. It started retreating from the top at 12:25.
This final maneuver was postponed several times from
the original planned date of May 5 to May 22 due to bad weather conditions.
Meanwhile, researchers have begun surveying at six
selected sites, ranging from 5,200 to 6,300 meters above sea level, where
surveyors can see the top of Mount Qomolangma. They are expected to do the
measuring for the next two days, said Zhang Jiangyuan, leader of the team.
A second team of Chinese researchers and mountaineers
are expected to assault the top of Mount Qomolangma Monday.
Geological theory predicts that Mount Qomolangma,
which was formed about 60 million years ago, is growing about 10 millimeters a
year as a result of crustal upthrust in the Himalayas, but some researchers in
recent years have contended that the summit is becoming shorter as it begins to
subside.
The height of the peak has been a subject of
controversy for decades. A survey by an American research team in 1999 said the
peak is 8,850 meters.
"Measurement of Mount Qomolangma's height has an
important bearing on our lives," said Zhang Yanping, chief director of the
measurement efforts, "What attracts people's attention is not onlythe height of
the peak, but also the changes of the peak's height and geological changes in
the area, which will have a great impacton global biosphere, atmosphere and
lithosphere."
"It's our bounden duty to measure the height of Mount
Qomolangma," said Chen Bangzhu, head of the State Bureau of Surveying and
Mapping, in a congratulatory message, calling the current scaling a "great
daring feat in the history of Mount Qomolangma's height measurement."
"Results of the current measurement will provide
important datafor the study of crustal movement and for other geoscience
studies," Chen said.
The ongoing survey is part of China's fourth
large-scale comprehensive scientific survey on Qomolangma, jointly organized by
the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping, and
the government of Tibet Autonomous Region.
Scientists will also conduct research on the impact
of global warming on glaciers and make observations of atmospheric physics and
chemistry, bio-diversity and environmental changes in the Himalayan region, said
Zhang Jiangqi, a researcher with the Chinese academy of Sciences, the top
research body of natural sciences in China.
A monument will be erected at the mountain's base
camp to mark the current measurement efforts. The final result is expected to be
announced in August. Enditem |
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