William Atkins
Tuesday, 03 November 2009 18:45
Science -
Climate
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According to scientific measurements made on Kilimanjaro by U.S. researchers, the glaciers found on the mountain in Africa could be gone within 25 years or less.
Nature News writer Brian Vastag reports in the article “
The melting snows of Kilimanjaro” that the glaciers on
“… Africa’s tallest mountain could disappear within decades.”
Kilimanjaro, in northeastern Tanzania, reaches a height of about 4,600 meters (12,092 feet) from its base.
It is the highest peak in Africa at 5,892 meters (19,331 feet). [Source (pdf file): “
Precise Determination of the Orthometric Height of Mt. Kilimanjaro”]
A detailed analysis of the glaciers on Kilimanjaro by U.S. research scientist
Lonnie G. Thompson, of Ohio State University (Columbus), and his team shows that the glaciers on Kilimanjaro will likely be gone between 2022 and 2033.
Dr Thompson, an ice core paleoclimatologist, states,
"They're being decapitated. In fact, they're probably not really glaciers anymore. They're remnants of another climate." [Nature News]
The study began in 2000 then the Thompson team drilled cores from three glaciers in order to estimate their age. The team found the three glaciers are as old as 11,700 years.
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