French experts measured Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in Western Europe, about one meter lower than the height previously considered official.
After an expedition in September, geographers found that the summit of the mountain, which lies on the border between Italy and France in the Alps, had a height of 4807, 81 meters. The previous estimate was 4808, 72 meters.
– Now it is up to climatologists, glaciologists and other researchers to look at all the data collected and offer all the theories that could explain this phenomenon, they said.
Glaciers around the world are melting due to climate change, and Mont Blanc’s official height has been declining for more than a decade.
The mountain was measured at its highest in 2007, at 4,810.9 metres.
Geographers believe that the mountain has lost an average of 13 cm per year since 2011.
The altimeter expedition is carried out every two years, but experts revealed on Wednesday that they had not published the “exceptionally low” measurement from 2019, when the mountain was measured at 4,806.03 metres.
The measurement should be taken with a pinch of salt, and the decision not to publish it was made to wait for “more scientific explanations” in 2021. The researchers believe this year’s measurement is the best yet due to the exceptional weather conditions.
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