[meteorite-list] Kilimanjaro's Glaciers Almost All Melted

From: Robert Verish <bolidechaser_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:07:02 2004
Message-ID: <20021018011002.28373.qmail_at_web80304.mail.yahoo.com>

(For all of you alpine glacier meteorite hunters, this
may be considered as "good news" - RSV;-)

Kilimanjaro's Glaciers Almost All Melted - Study Shows

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Kilimanjaro's already skimpy
glaciers are melting so quickly that they will be gone
by 2020,
U.S. researchers reported on Thursday.

The researchers, who are racing to glean information
from the unique glaciers on Africa's highest peak
before they are completely gone, also said they had
found evidence of three catastrophic droughts 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 savannas
of Tanzania, 11,700 years ago. "We found that the
summit of the ice fields has lowered by at least 17
meters (nearly 56 feet) since 1962," Ohio State
University professor Lonnie Thompson, who led the
study, said in a statement.

"That's an average loss of about a half-meter (a foot
and a half) in height each year."

Writing in the journal Science, the researchers said
the glaciers measured 4.8 square miles in 1912 but had
shrunk to 1 square mile by 2000.

Douglas Hardy of the University of Massachusetts said
other glaciers around the world are melting due to
global warming but
that may not be the case with Kilimanjaro. "It's
difficult to ascribe the decrease solely to humans,"
Hardy, who also worked on the study, said in a
statement.

"Further research is needed to determine to what
extent global warming and/or natural climate
variability are responsible for the demise of
Kilimanjaro's glaciers."
  



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Received on Thu 17 Oct 2002 09:10:02 PM PDT