Moving Mountains

Since 2007, NOAA’s National Ocean Service has been working to update the National Spatial Reference System. This huge project will modernize the system for measuring the horizontal positions and vertical elevations of the United States and its territories. During the course of this work, NOAA scientists realized that the heights of Colorado’s famous “Fourteeners” — or mountains with peak elevations of at least 14,000 feet — had been overestimated. In this episode, we learn why this occurred, how this impacts the status of these mountains, and what benefits this project will have for the nation. Our featured expert is Derek van Westrum, physicist with NOAA’s National Geodetic Survey.