The government team sent to measure the height of Mount Everest has ascended the summit Wednesday morning.
Spokesperson at the Survey Department Damodar Dhakal said the team reached the summit at around three in the morning and collected data for around half an hour there.
"We have been successful in one important work in measuring the height of Mt Everest. The team is climbing down to the base camp after collecting data," Dhakal told Setopati.
Chief Survey Officer Khimlal Gautam and Survey Officer Rabin Karki reached the top of Mt Everest to measure its height while technical staffers Suraj Singh Bhandari and Yuba Raj Dhital helped in data collection from the base camp.
The team members collected data sent by satellites at the top of the summit with the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver device they had carried. American company Trimble had provided a special GNSS receiver in assistance, according to Dhakal.
The team also collected temperature, humidity, gravity and other data at the top of Mt Everest.
The department has already started measuring altitude using trigonometry from Madar of Siraha to Patale of Solukhumbu. "It was difficult to measure the height at the top of Mt Everest using that system due to difficult topography. We have, therefore, used GNSS," Dhakal reasoned. "We will also keep devices in four peaks near Mt Everest and determine the height of Everest by analyzing the data provided by those devices," he explained.
Nepal has not measured the height of Mt Everest until now. The Indian survey department in 1954 had stated that its height is 8,848 meters. An American team in 1999 had claimed that the height has increased to 8,850 meters.
