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      • An Unusual Mountain
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      • Snowfall, Sunshine, or Warm Air?
      • Beyond the Ice
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Beyond the Ice A Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania story

Glaciers  / 
Mountains
  1. Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
  2. Beyond the Ice
Description

Tourism is now a major part of the local economy. Ten thousand visitors climb the mountain every year, employing local people as porters and guides. The snow and ice are part of what attracts the tourists, some of whom come as a “last chance” opportunity, believing that the glaciers will soon disappear. Scientific estimates of that date vary, and some believe the glaciers on the side slopes may survive. If the glaciers do disappear, seasonal snow will still whiten the peak, but perhaps not in the dry seasons when most tourists come. In the end, on this mountain both science and economics are always drawn back, as if by some powerful cultural gravity, to the famous white landscape on its peak.

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Location

May 29, 2018, Sentinel-2B — Snow on top of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

May 29, 2018, Sentinel-2B — Snow on top of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania Additional Imagery & Stories

An Unusual Mountain
An Unusual Mountain

Many of the world’s highest peaks are the barely tallest points of high ranges, but Kilimanjaro stands alone, 15,000 feet above the surrounding plains...

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Snowfall, Sunshine, or Warm Air?
Snowfall, Sunshine, or Warm Air?

Why have these glaciers been shrinking? One factor is snowfall. We don’t have weather measurements from the peak until very recently, but scientists h...

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The Glaciers of Kilimanjaro
The Glaciers of Kilimanjaro

As the 2000 image was being taken, climatologist Lonnie Thompson was camped on the glacier ice, drilling out samples for analysis and preservation. Wh...

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