REAL LIFE NEWS: ESTONIA IS SUDDENLY NEARLY A FOOT TALLER
by Hazed
The nation of Estonia now reaches higher into the sky. No, it hasn’t actually grown, but the way its height above sea level is measured has changed.
I had no idea that sea level is not an agreed thing throughout the world. Different reference systems are used depending on where a country is and which political grouping it belongs to.
Estonia, one of the Baltic states, used to be part of the USSR so it has been using the Russian-based data from the Kronstadt tide gauge in St Petersburg to calculate its height above sea level. But since the country became independent after the fall of the Soviet Union, it has now decided to switch to the European Vertical Reference System. This change adds between 15 and 24cm (6 and 9.5 inches) to vertical measurements in the country.
This means that local cartographers will have to add 20cm to the official height of the country’s highest point, Suur-Munamagi. From the start of next year it will measure 317.4m above sea level.
The change means that the measurement system will be in line with the country’s new allies, NATO and the European Union.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-40666519
