New Elevation for Nation’s Highest Peak: With this slightly lower elevation, has the tallest mountain in North America shrunk? No, but advances in technology to better measure the elevation at the surface of the Earth have resulted in a more accurate summit height of Alaska’s natural treasure. The revised official height for “the high one” has been measured at
20,310 feet, just 10 feet less than the previous elevation of 20,320 feet which was established using 1950’s era technology. The USGS partnered with NOAA’s National Geodetic Survey (
NGS),
Dewberry, CompassData,(a subcontractor to Dewberry), the
University of Alaska, Fairbanks, and the
Denali National Park to conduct a precise Global Positioning System (
GPS) measurement of a specific point at the mountain’s peak in late June.
http://on.doi.gov/1EBhtXd. Feature story:
http://on.doi.gov/1NNbaT7