Kilimanjaro's ice in no danger of melting soon due to GW (another myth exposed)
raylopez99
Last Updated: Tuesday, 17 April 2007, 05:45 GMT 06:45 UK
Kilimanjaro's ice set to linger
By Jonathan Amos
Science reporter, BBC News, Vienna
A fresh assessment suggests the famous ice fields on Africa's tallest
mountain will be around for decades yet.
Recent concerns that climate warming would rob Mount Kilimanjaro of
all its glaciers within 20 years are overly pessimistic, say Austrian
scientists.
Their weather station data and modelling work indicate the tropical
ice should last well beyond 2040.
Precipitation and not temperature is the key to the white peak's
future, the University of Innsbruck-led team says.
"About five years ago Kilimanjaro was being used as an icon for global
warming. We know now that this was far too simplistic a view," said
Thomas Moelg.
"We have done different kinds of modelling and we expect the plateau
glaciers to be gone roughly within 30 or 40 years from now, but we
have a certain expectation that the slope glaciers may last longer,"
added colleague Georg Kaser.
If one wants to be more precise, I would call it the 'evaporating
glaciers of Kilimanjaro'
Dr Thomas Moelg, University of Innsbruck
The group's assessment was presented here at the European Geosciences
Union General Assembly meeting.
It acts as a counterpoint to the most doom-laden projections for the
5,895m-high (19,340ft) peak, which draws thousands of tourists
intrigued by the idea of seeing ice just three degrees south of the
equator.
Hanging on
The research team has been using three automated instrument stations
on the top of the mountain to collect continuous data on temperature,
pressure, solar radiation, humidity and wind.
The recording effort was in position late last year to witness heavy
snowfall, which will have led to a slight increase in Kilimanjaro's
overall ice volume.
Kilimanjaro (University of Innsbruck)
Weather station (dot inside circle) data provides new insight
This glacier growth is only temporary, however. The mountain's ice is
dependent on the pulses of moist air that sweep across from the Indian
Ocean.
Since the late 1800s, these have become less frequent, and the regular
snows that would maintain the ice fields are now a rare occurrence in
what has become a much drier climate in East Africa.
Today, the total ice extent - on the slopes and on the plateau - is
about 2.5 sq km, down from more than 12 sq km in the early 1900s.
Some scientists have drawn a fairly straight-line curve and forecast a
rapid final retreat to a totally bare mountain.
But the Innsbruck team is more optimistic about the medium term having
now put real field measurements into a comprehensive modelling
programme.
"Glacier recession has been a feature on Kilimanjaro for more than 100
years, but this is the first time we really have a precise
understanding of the physical processes that control the glacier-
climate interaction on Africa's highest mountain," said Dr Moelg.
'No reservoir'
This work emphasises the significance of the lack of precipitation
(250mm per year on the summit) versus temperature (a mean of -7C).
Graph showing extent of ice melt on Kilimanjaro (Image: BBC)
It indicates that glacier mass loss would be about four times higher
if precipitation decreased by 20% than if air temperature on the
mountain rose by 1C.
Furthermore, it suggests that two-thirds of the ice that is lost goes
straight into the atmosphere through sublimation (the direct
conversion of snow and ice to water vapour).
"In recent years many people have talked about 'the melting glaciers
of Kilimanjaro'. If one wants to be more precise, I would call it the
'evaporating glaciers of Kilimanjaro'," said Dr Moelg.
This confirms the view that the African peak does not play an
important role as a reservoir for water, unlike in the Andes and the
Himalayas where some lowland cities and agricultural systems are
dependent on summer melt high in the mountains.
"This is not a factor at all at Kilimanjaro and it never has been,"
said Professor Kaser.
"If you brought all the remaining ice down to the Amboseli National
Park and melted it, the water would only cover the park to a depth of
one or one-and-a-half millimetres. There is nothing in terms of water
up there."
The Innsbruck research was conducted in collaboration with the
University of Otago, New Zealand, and the University of Massachusetts,
US.
The team stresses that the drying of the East African climate around
Kilimanjaro may itself be a regional impact of global climate change.
H2-PV
in attics in New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina.
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.global-warming/msg/51d1be30937ccecb
George Bush doesn't want you forget that he wasn't the only negligent
person that day so he keeps this picture on his website:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/images/20050829-5_p08...
President George W. Bush joins Arizona Senator John McCain in a small
celebration of McCain's 69th birthday Monday, Aug. 29, 2005, after the
President's arrival at Luke Air Force Base near Phoenix. The President
later spoke about Medicare to 400 guests at the Pueblo El Mirage RV
Resort and Country Club in nearby El Mirage. White House photo by Paul
Morse
But, in case politics, or some other reason they decide to bury the
picture, here's other copies on the internet...
http://www.nowpublic.com/node/168089
http://www.nowpublic.com/troop_surge_likely_to_cause_mccain_trouble_down_the_road
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/08/white-house-web-site-shows-bush.html
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/Katrina_Sen.htm
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/images/20050829-5_p082905pm-0097-515h.html
http://www.mydd.com/story/2005/8/31/9520/46323
http://thinkprogress.org/katrina-timeline
http://briandeford.blogspot.com/2006/03/let-me-eat-cake.html
http://ascrivenerslament.blogspot.com/2005/08/george-w-bushlet-them-eat-cake.html
http://images.google.com/images?q=McCain%20Bush%20Birthday%20Cake&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&sa=N&tab=wi