The white cap of Kilimanjaro varies in size over the year, and may grow and shrink at intervals depending on solar influx, precipitation and other factors. But since 1912, there is clear evidence that the glaciers have shrunk consistently and dramatically. At the February 2001 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), researchers reported dramatic changes in the volume of ice capping the Kibo summit of Kilimanjaro. An estimated 82 % of the icecap that crowned the mountain when it was first thoroughly surveyed in 1912 is now gone, and the ice is thinning as well - by as much as a meter in one area. According to some projections, if recession continues at the present rate, the majority of the glaciers on Kilimanjaro could vanish in the next 15 years.
The pictures on this site are quite showing of the devistation global warming is causing. The article goes on to say that the global warming is also increasing the fires in the Mount Kilimanjaro area. The forest line is said to have gone down nearly 500 metres in the past 100 years. With global warming getting worse and worse, what will mountains like Mount Kilimanjaro look in the next 100 years?
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