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Snowfall, Sunshine, or Warm Air? A Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania story

Glaciers  / 
Mountains
  1. Earthshots
  2. Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
  3. Snowfall, Sunshine, or Warm Air?
Description

Why have these glaciers been shrinking? One factor is snowfall. We don’t have weather measurements from the peak until very recently, but scientists have reconstructed a general picture. In the 1880s, the East African climate became much drier. Glaciers started shrinking, and lake levels started dropping. And since the early 1900s, at three weather stations on Kilimanjaro’s southern foothills, rainfall has decreased by 27 to 39 percent. Glaciers need fresh snow for at least two reasons: to feed them with fresh ice and to provide a bright white shield between the ice and the sun.

Sunshine can melt ice, even when the ambient air temperature is below freezing, by warming the surface of the ice. The same decrease in clouds that meant less snow for the glaciers also meant more sunshine. Even in 2000–2002, as scientists witnessed “strong melting” on Kilimanjaro, weather stations verified that the temperature never exceeded –1.6 degrees C. The glaciers’ sharp edges and vertical walls (2) (3) also suggest that the melting is from sunshine, not above-freezing air temperatures. Warm air is a “rounder,” melting evenly everywhere; sunshine is a “sharpener” that strikes selectively. Clear and cloudy seasons, solstices and equinoxes, and afternoon cloudiness all affect where the sun hits the ice.

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Location

Jan. 24, 1976, Landsat 2 (path/row 180/62) — Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

Jan. 24, 1976, Landsat 2 (path/row 180/62) — Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

Feb. 21, 2000, Landsat 7 (path/row 168/62) — Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

Feb. 21, 2000, Landsat 7 (path/row 168/62) — Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

Aug. 19, 2010, Landsat 5 (path/row 168/62) — Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

Aug. 19, 2010, Landsat 5 (path/row 168/62) — Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

Aug. 27, 2013, Landsat 8 (path/row 168/62) — Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

Aug. 27, 2013, Landsat 8 (path/row 168/62) — Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

July 27, 2019, Landsat 8 (path/row 168/62) — Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

July 27, 2019, Landsat 8 (path/row 168/62) — Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

Jan. 24, 1976, Landsat 2 (path/row 180/62) — Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
Feb. 21, 2000, Landsat 7 (path/row 168/62) — Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
Aug. 19, 2010, Landsat 5 (path/row 168/62) — Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
Aug. 27, 2013, Landsat 8 (path/row 168/62) — Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
July 27, 2019, Landsat 8 (path/row 168/62) — 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...

Read More
Beyond the Ice
Beyond the Ice

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. T...

Read More
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...

Read More
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