Height above sea level is the "elevation."

Im gegebenen Beispiel: elevation

Die Unterschiede zu "altitude" sind manchmal etwas verwischt, aber:
elevation: die Hoehe, die man (prinzipiell) zu Fuss erreichen kann;
altitude: Hoehe ueber einer Referenzhoehe, insbesondere die Hoehe ueber dem Boden (e.g., the plane is at a cruising altitude of 33000 ft)

Schonmal vielen Dank.
Also bezeichnet man die Höhe immer als "elevation" wenn physische Erhebungen (Berge, Hügel, etc.) gemeint sind?

VWIW - from Google "define:

Elevation: distance of something above a reference point (such as sea level); "there was snow at the higher elevations”

Altitude: elevation especially above sea level or above the earth's surface; "the altitude gave her a headache


?????

I think they are almost synonyms. The only exception that I can think of is that planes fly at a certain altitude - not elevation.

But: Where I live is at 1500 m elevation, which is considered high altitude (so we have to cook following "high-altitude recipes", we buy high-altitude tennis balls, etc.

Hi P
Yes, I can agree with the answers you have already received.

As for the difference between elevation and altitude, which both concern how high something is... absolute height. WN is great.

Elevation is "above sea level" (NN in German) and is usually used for LAND (i.e. mountains)
Altitude is "above ground" and is usually used for something in the AIR (i.e. airplanes)

Furthermore, you might wish to describe how much higher one object is than another... (similar to "tall"). Here we usually do use the term "higher" or "taller".
i.e.: The Zugspitze is much higher/taller than the Brocken.
However, if push comes to shove, higher is used to describe absolute height above sea level. "Tall" measures the object itself, from bottom to top.

A good trick to play on English students is to ask them which is the highest church in town. Then ask them which is the tallest.

Best regards,

@ Bill:
rather OT

that reminds me - at primary school (in the UK) we were told you can't brew decent tea at a high altitude because the water boils at less than 100 centigrade - pardon- 212 Fahrenheit, anybody know the truth of this?

Mike, I don't believe it. The tea doesn't care if the water is 100 degrees - only that it's boiling!

I do believe that "elevation" is an established term to indicate the difference from sea level.

OT @Bill (#8): Exactly! Good point...

edit:
OT @#6: If this is your home, you should know how to spell it: Bismarck ND - SCNR

the "Tea Party" question done some research in the meantime

From: wiki answers

Water usually boils at 212F or 100C at sea level. As you go higher up in the atmosphere (higher altitude), the amount of atmosphere pushing down on you decreases, hence the pressure decreases. Water boils when the vapor pressure of the water equals the atmospheric pressure. Vapor pressure increases with increasing temperature, so when there is less atmospheric pressure, a smaller vapor pressure is required to get the water boiling, hence a lower boiling temperature.

from: Newton.dept.anl.gov

I assume your question refers to something being cooked using boiling water.
Water boils at a lower temperature at higher altitudes because of the lower
air pressure. If you cook noodles at sea level, the boiling water heats the
noodles to 100C. When a molecule reaches that temperature it vaporizes and
leaves the mixture. At 5000 feet it would begin to boil at a lower
temperature so you are cooking your noodles at a lower temperature.... and
it will take longer.


the temperature of the water determines the flavour of the tea, so if the water is boiling at say, 92 degrees it won’t taste so good

seems to something in it after all