Glaciers on Kilimanjaro melting fast

William Atkins
Tuesday, 03 November 2009 17:45

Science - Climate

In particular, they estimate that about half the thickness of the Furtwängler glacier was lost between February 2000 and February 2009—a length of about 4.6 meters.

Other glaciers involved in their analysis show that they have decreased in size by about 26% from 2000 to 2007.

Previous work by the Thompson team has been summarized in the October 18, 2002 Science article Kilimanjaro Ice Core Records: Evidence of Holocene Climate Change in Tropical Africa(volume 298, number 5593, pages 589-593, doi 10.1126/science.1073198).

The Nature News article concludes with, "However, the Kilimanjaro glaciers do attract some 25,000 visitors each year, a major revenue source for Tanzania. [Dr. Doug] Hardy [University of Massachusetts, Amherst], who's made 12 trips up the mountain since 2000, says he's noticed the crowds of summiteers growing larger; he thinks the stampede began in response to the global attention the shrinking glaciers received in 2002, when he and Thompson published their first paper on the subject." [See article above]

Due to the influx of tourists to the mountain, Tanzanian Medical Services have been concerned with attempts of tourists to climb the mountain. Significant physical demands are required to accomplish the climb, and many tourists are unaware of these demands and, in fact, think the mountain is easy to climb.

Addtional information on Mount Kilimanjaro is found at Mount Kilimanjaro National Park.