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Chinese scientists say Everest 12 feet shorter than thought

By wire services
Published October 10, 2005

BEIJING - The world's highest mountain, Mount Everest, is 12 feet shorter than previously thought, Chinese scientists who measured the peak earlier this year said Sunday.

Their survey determined that the mountain was 29,017 feet, or 12 feet smaller than it was measured to be 30 years ago, said Chen Bangzhu, a spokesman with the Chinese State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping.

The survey was carried out by a team of 50 Chinese experts in May, Chen said at a press conference. The new figure is based on the "most elaborate and precise data ever obtained by Chinese or foreign scientists," he said.

Chen said the data did not mean the mountain had shrunk since it was last measured, but that previous measurements were less accurate.

A 1975 Chinese survey determined that the mountain was 29,029 feet high. Other estimates put its height at 29,035 feet.

MIAMI - Hurricane Vince formed Sunday in the far eastern Atlantic after this hurricane season became the second busiest on record.

The Category 1 hurricane was moving away from the United States and posed no threat to land. It was also the 20th named storm and 11th hurricane of the season, forecasters said. "It's very far away. It couldn't get farther away," said Richard Pasch, a hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

"It's headed for Spain. It's not going to reach there. It will likely merge with a cold front."

At 11 p.m., Vince's center was about 565 miles east-southeast of the Azores and 125 miles north-northwest of the Madeira Islands. It was moving northeast at 7 mph with top sustained winds of near 75 mph.

Only one other Atlantic season had more tropical storms and hurricanes since record keeping began in 1851 - there were 21 in 1933. The most hurricanes to ever form in a season were 12 in 1969.

[Last modified October 10, 2005, 01:19:14]