Mount Kilimanjaro To Lose Its Ice Caps Within Several Decades

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Ice Fields on Mt Kilimanjaro

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A new report from the National Academy of Sciences in the United States released today estimates that the ice fields atop Mount Kilimanjaro and on its flanks will likely disappear within several decades, if current climatological conditions are sustained. Mount Kilimanjaro is an iconic natural landmark on the African continent. The new report provides staggering figures describing the melting of Kilimanjaro's breathtaking ice fields. It estimates Kilimanjaro's ice is currently melting at a rate of 2.5% per year. It also says that 85% of the ice that was present on the mountain in 1912 is now gone.

The report does not directly attribute such drastic ice melting to climate change, saying "the relative importance of different climatological drivers remains an area of active inquiry." The report suggests it is difficult to assign contributing factors because of the scarce meteorological data available for the region of Eastern Africa. The report does make a note that the most obvious mechanism that would explain the changes would be warmer air temperatures predicted by models that include anthropogenic forcing, which implies human activities might be to blame.

Moreover, the report concludes that it is not just Kilimanjaro that is in danger. Other glaciers in African are also threatened.