Skip to main content
Home

Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center

Main Menu

  • EROS Home
  • Image Gallery
  • Video Library
  • Earthshots
  • Remote Sensing Classroom

Earthshots

  • Earthshots
    • Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
      • An Unusual Mountain
      • The Glaciers of Kilimanjaro
      • Snowfall, Sunshine, or Warm Air?
      • Beyond the Ice
  • Download Cards
  • More Information
  • Contact Information
Earthshots Logo

The Glaciers of Kilimanjaro A Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania story

Glaciers  / 
Mountains
  1. Earthshots
  2. Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
  3. The Glaciers of Kilimanjaro
Description

As the 2000 image was being taken, climatologist Lonnie Thompson was camped on the glacier ice, drilling out samples for analysis and preservation. When a year later he publicly stated that the glaciers might disappear between 2015 and 2020, he raised these glaciers to a new level of public and scientific debate. For better or worse, Kilimanjaro became a poster child for global warming.

Kilimanjaro’s glaciers have been shrinking since at least the 1880s. (Scientists measure the glaciers, not the fluctuating snow cover. Ground measurements are required in addition to aerial/satellite imagery, since the glaciers may be covered by snow or ash.) The ice has retreated both vertically and horizontally, but the loss of area has been more dramatic.

Vertically, the glaciers don’t appear to have lowered dramatically between 1880 and about 1960, but stereo aerial photographs indicate that from 1962 to 2000 they lowered almost 0.5 m per year. One member of Thompson’s 2000 party described the melting he observed: “By day, water streamed off the top of the glacier and down its steep sidewalls. . . In some places, the rivulets wandering along the surface had converged to form streams, which catapulted in waterfalls off the top” (Bowen, 2005).

Area of Kilimanjaro’s glaciers, 1880–2016

Year Area
1880 20.0 km2
1912 12.1 km2
1953 6.7 km2
1976 4.2 km2
1989 3.3 km2
2000 2.6 km2
2003 2.5 km2
2007 1.85 km2
2011 1.76 km2
2016 1.7 km2
View Related Imagery & Stories

Location

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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
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...

Read More
  • DOI Privacy Policy
  • Legal
  • Accessibility
  • Site Map
  • Contact USGS

  • U.S. Department of the Interior
  • DOI Inspector General
  • White House
  • E-gov
  • No Fear Act
  • FOIA