A scientific investigation on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is being planned for March 20 to June 20 this year.

One of its tasks will be to remeasure the height of the world's tallest mountain, Qomolangma Peak (also called Mount Everest), the Beijing-based Science and Technology Daily reported.

The investigation, jointly launched by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping (SBSM), will focus on the damage caused to the area by global warming over the past 30 years.

It will be China's fourth comprehensive scientific investigation in the region. The others were conducted in 1959, 1966 and 1975 respectively, the paper quoted Sun Honglie, a CAS academician, as saying.

The SBSM, together with the national women's mountaineering expedition, will use radar and GPS (Global Positioning System) to remeasure the height of the mountain, the paper reported.

The height of Qomolangma Peak is believed to have been reduced as a result of the global warming-induced shrinking of glaciers. A recent survey said that the mountaintop had declined by 1.3 meters.

(Xinhua News Agency, China.org.cn January 25, 2005)