The Times [UK]: The snows of Mount Kilimanjaro will be gone within two decades, according to scientists who say that the rapid melting of its glacier cap over the past century provides dramatic evidence of global climate change.
If the forecast -- based on 95 years of data tracking the retreat of the Kilimanjaro ice -- proves correct it will be the first time in about 12,000 years that the slopes of Africa's highest mountain have been ice-free. Since 1912, 85 per cent of the glacier has disappeared and the melting does not appear to be slowing down. Twenty-six per cent of the ice has disappeared since 2000.
The study concludes that the primary cause of the ice loss is the increase in global temperatures. Although changes in cloudiness and snowfall may also play a role, these factors appear to be less important. Even intense droughts, including one lasting about 300 years, did not cause the present degree of melting...
The melting of Kilimanjaro is part of a trend of glacial retreat throughout Africa, India and South America. Melting is occurring on Mount Kenya, the Rwenzori Mountains in central Africa, as well as on tropical glaciers high in the Andes and Himalayas.
'The fact that so many glaciers throughout the tropics and subtropics are showing similar responses suggests an underlying common cause,' Professor [Lonnie] Thompson [a paleoclimatologist at Ohio State University who led the study] said. He attributed the changes to increases in the Earth's surface temperatures, which are exaggerated at high altitudes. Scientists predict that, even if no further significant warming occurs, all but the very highest of summits will eventually melt.
The melting of glaciers can be devastating for species who rely on snowy environments for survival. If can also have consequences for agriculture. Much of the river flow in glacial regions comes from melt water and glacial retreat is predicted to increase water scarcity... Glacial retreats could lead to a 20 per cent decline in global agricultural productivity.
