Mont Blanc shrinks by one meter to reach 4,807.8m above sea level, but there is nothing to worry about

Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in Western Europe, was measured almost a meter shorter than its previous official height. Its summit is covered with a permanent layer of snow that varies with high winds and precipitation.

Geography experts said that after an expedition in mid-September, the mighty mountain in the heart of the French Alps was 4,807.81 meters high, lower than their last published estimate of 4,808.72 meters in 2017.

“Now, it’s up to climatologists, glaciologists and other scientists to look at all the data collected and put forward all the theories to explain this phenomenon,” they said at a press conference in the town of Saint -Gervais-les-Bains, at the foot of Mont-Blanc.

As alarm grows around the world about melting glaciers, Mont Blanc’s official height has been declining for more than a decade. The highest reading was 4,810.90 meters in 2007.

The mountain has lost an average of 13 centimeters in height per year since 2001, according to geographic experts.

The objective of regular measurements is to model the ice sheet and to feed a precise database which will be made available to all experts.

Changing the height

Readings vary from year to year as the summit is covered with a permanent blanket of snow which functions as a huge snowdrift and varies with high winds and precipitation.

“Since the dawn of time, the altitude of Mont Blanc has continued to vary,” said the experts, noting that the “rocky” part of the summit rises to 4,792 meters.

The measurement expedition is carried out every two years, but experts revealed on Wednesday that they had not released the “exceptionally low” figure in 2019 of 4,806.03 meters.

This reading was to be taken with “a pinch of salt” and the decision was taken at the time to wait for the 2021 measure “for more scientific explanations,” they said.

This year’s outing benefited from exceptional weather conditions, making it the most accurate reading to date, they added, while cautioning against rushing the interpretation.

“One should not draw hasty conclusions on measurements which have only been carried out since 2001 with this kind of precision”, declared Denis Borel, one of the experts.

(with AFP)