Glaciers disappearing from Kilimanjaro

[Natural Elements]

The ice and snow that cap majestic Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania are vanishing before our eyes.

If current conditions persist, climate change experts say, Kilimanjaro's world-renowned glaciers, which have covered Africa's highest peak for centuries, will be gone within the next two decades.

"In a very real sense, these glaciers are being decapitated from the surface down," said Lonnie Thompson, professor of earth sciences at Ohio State University. Thompson is co-author of a study on Kilimanjaro published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The study's authors blame the disappearing ice on increases in global temperatures and diminished snowfall at Kilimanjaro's summit.

Previous studies of Kilimanjaro's glaciers have relied on aerial photographs to measure the rate of the retreating ice. For this new survey, scientists climbed the mountain and drilled deep into the glaciers to measure the volume of the ice fields atop the 19,331-foot (5,892-meter) peak.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science...ers/index.html

[andr97]

There is an opinion, that all these changes are natural, and it happened for several times centuries ago.I'm not sure it's true, it's vivid that the problem appeared with the development of our civilization

[host1plus]

I think stories that this is natural changes are myths.. Just for people who don't want to believe that we are fault...

[Moore123]

I agree that it's not natural and it shows that some global changes happen in the world climate. The glaciers are disapperaring as they are melting and it means that the sea level increases and some cities will sink or something like this.

[donphant]

In the past 100 years the world has become super industrious and have not cared what would happen to the world because we really didnt have the technology to monitor the effects a century ago.
Now we do and have found out that we have really done some damage.

its human progression against the enviroment and we've taken chunks out of the enviroment

[Zap]

Thread moved here as it seemed like a good place for it.

[loenex]

I guess global warming makes that happen.

[Cars-blog]

The earth's climate does change. The earth has had a few "ice ages" so theoretically it's been getting warmer ever since the last ice age. What is alarming is how we've increased the rate of warming. Fortunately, the earth will survive; it won't just disappear and nature will adapt though I'm not sure human being will adapt along with it.

[Natural Elements]

Originally Posted by Cars-blog

The earth's climate does change. The earth has had a few "ice ages" so theoretically it's been getting warmer ever since the last ice age. What is alarming is how we've increased the rate of warming. Fortunately, the earth will survive; it won't just disappear and nature will adapt though I'm not sure human being will adapt along with it.

That's very true.

[DomainZaar]

"its human progression against the enviroment and we've taken chunks out of the enviroment!"

...And it looks as though the environment will soon be taking chunks out of us! This is the most rapid change in the Earth's history and seems now unstoppable!

[robjones]

This is the most rapid change in the Earth's history

LOL. I hear lines like this all the time. Keep wondering, were there really accurate temperature records in the the dark ages ("OK already... we can burn the witch AFTER I derive the standard variation of this heat index you knave!), or if some early cro-magnon version of Al Roker carved meteorological data into cave walls by the light of the campfire. Gotta feeling the really accurate records dont quite date back to the dawn of mankind.

Either way I have a feeling the ice age or maybe the subsequent thaw might give this a run for its money for speed.