Xinhua
BEIJING--
Mount Everest, the world's highest peak, is shrinking as a result
of global warming, China's XINHUA wire reported late Wednesday.
Researchers
at the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping discovered that the
thickness of snow on Everest's peak had decreased during the last
30 years, the agency said.
Using a global positioning satellite system (GPS), researchers
also discovered that Everest is moving between 2.4 and 2.8 inches
at an azimuth angle of 54 degrees [northeast] every year!
Surveys over
the past 30 years show that obvious changes have occurred in the
area through crustal vertical movement, and experts said that
these changes are the result of a large rupture on the northern
side of the Mountain, XINHUA reported.
Researches
also showed that these changes correspond to seismological periods.
Researchers
found that the snow cover on the top of Everest has been descending
over the past three decades. "This has a connection with
global warming," they said.
Previously,
China carried out surveys of Mt. Everest and the area to the north
of the mountain three times in 1966, 1975 and 1992.
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