The ice on Kilimanjaro may be gone forever!
Oct 21, 2002
Kilimanjaro’s glaciers are melting so quickly that they will be gone by 2020, say researchers from the US.
Kilimanjaro’s glaciers are melting so quickly that they will be gone by 2020, say researchers from the US.
The researchers, are racing to glean information from the unique glaciers on Africa’s highest peak before they completely disappear.
According to the researchers, they have found evidence of three catastrophic droughts that occurred 8,300, 5,200 and 4,000 years ago.
They also determined that the glaciers began to form on top of the mountain, which rises from the savannah of Tanzania, 11,700 years ago.
“We found that the summit of the ice fields has been lowered by at least 17 meters since 1962,†says Lonnie Thompson, a professor from Ohio State University, who led the study.
“That’s an average loss of about a half-meter in height each year,†he adds.
Writing in the journal Science, the researchers say the glaciers measured 4.8 square 12 sq km in 1912, but had shrunk to 2.6 sq km by 2000.
Douglas Hardy, of Massachusetts University says other glaciers around the world are melting as well, due to global warming. But this may not be the case here.
Hardy says it’s difficult to ascribe the decrease solely to humans.
“Further research is needed to establish whether global warming and/or natural climate variability are responsible for the demise of the Kilimanjaro glaciers.â€
Reuters
The researchers, are racing to glean information from the unique glaciers on Africa’s highest peak before they completely disappear.
According to the researchers, they have found evidence of three catastrophic droughts that occurred 8,300, 5,200 and 4,000 years ago.
They also determined that the glaciers began to form on top of the mountain, which rises from the savannah of Tanzania, 11,700 years ago.
“We found that the summit of the ice fields has been lowered by at least 17 meters since 1962,†says Lonnie Thompson, a professor from Ohio State University, who led the study.
“That’s an average loss of about a half-meter in height each year,†he adds.
Writing in the journal Science, the researchers say the glaciers measured 4.8 square 12 sq km in 1912, but had shrunk to 2.6 sq km by 2000.
Douglas Hardy, of Massachusetts University says other glaciers around the world are melting as well, due to global warming. But this may not be the case here.
Hardy says it’s difficult to ascribe the decrease solely to humans.
“Further research is needed to establish whether global warming and/or natural climate variability are responsible for the demise of the Kilimanjaro glaciers.â€
Reuters