China fears Everest is shrinking

<P align=left>全球变暖 珠峰降低
<IMG src="http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-01/31/xin_47010231101838913081.jpg" border=0>
This is not the first time Everest's height has triggered arguments
</P>

<P>China is to re-measure the world's tallest peak, Mount <FONT color=#808000><b>Everest</b></FONT>, because of fears it may be shrinking. A recent survey found the summit had dropped by 1.3 metres (4 ft) because of global warming. The height of the mountain, which lies on the border between China and Nepal, has long been a subject of controversy. It was first measured in the 1850s, but a more accurate Indian survey 100 years later calculated the mountain to be 8,848m tall. </P>

<P>In 1999, American scientists re-measured the mountain using global positioning satellite technology. They - and the National Geographic Society - concluded that the peak was two metres higher. But now global warming is melting <b><FONT color=#808000>glaciers </FONT></b>on the world's highest mountain, apparently causing it to shrink. Chinese scientists will map Everest in March to check estimates that it is more than a metre shorter than before. No matter how big it really is, Mount Everest's height is unlikely to stay constant. The movement of the earth's tectonic plates is forcing the Himalayas upwards, reportedly causing Everest to grow by about a centimetre every year. </P>

<DIV align=left>Global warming may be twice as bad as feared</DIV>
<DIV align=left> </DIV>
<P><IMG src="http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-01/28/xin_440102281038110279804.jpg" border=0></P>
<P>The study used a programme that ran on PCs around the world </P>

<P>The impact of global warming could be twice as severe as the worst <FONT color=#808000><b>scenario</b></FONT> feared by United Nations scientists, the world's largest climate-modelling experiment has shown. Average temperatures could rise by 11C (20F) to reach highs that would change the face of the globe, researchers who have run 60,000 computer simulations of climate change said yesterday. </P>

<P>The conclusions suggest that forecasts by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) may be much too conservative. In the worst case, the world would eventually heat up by almost double the maximum increase <FONT color=#808000><b>envisaged</b></FONT> by the panel. The IPCC's latest report predicted that temperatures will rise by between 1.4C (2.5F) and 5.8C (10.4F) by 2100. A world 11C warmer than it is today would be unrecognisable: while records show that the planet has been hotter than it is today for about 80 per cent of its history, there is no evidence that it has ever been more than about 7C warmer. </P>

<P>Although it would take hundreds of years for the full effects to be felt, the polar ice caps eventually would melt completely, causing sea levels to rise by 70m to 100m (230ft to 330ft). Coastal and low-lying cities such as London and New York would be submerged. As the 11C figure is a global average, temperatures would be expected to climb even further in some regions. David Stainforth, of the University of Oxford, the study's chief scientist, said: "When I start to look at these figures, I get very worried about them. An 11-degree warmed world would be a dramatically different world." </P>