Mount Kilimanjaro's Glaciers Could Soon Vanish

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Global warming is not the cause of glacial retreat on Kiliminjaro. First, the retreat commenced hundreds of years before the build up of greenhouse gases from automobiles and industry. Next, it is rarely above freezing on the summit. Third, while Eastern Africa was moist 11,000 years ago when the glaciers were formed, the region has been dry for several thousand years thus the effects of the evaporation from sublimation are not countered.

dr. o of MA 9:24PM December 26, 2010

The study presents new evidence that provides an additional causal link to the disappearing ice. Furthermore, it suggests an anomalous acceleration of that loss. Your comments suggest we should ignore that recent evidence, and adopt a competing explanation that is not consistent with the new evidence. Beyond Conrad's point, your suggestion is equivalent to ignoring the results of an HIV test b/c you were losing weight before the test albeit more slowly. It must have been the clothes you were wearing, not the blood test.

esl of VA 2:15PM November 03, 2009

John, did you even read your 'source'? It doesn't make your case at all... because it is actually research on computer modeling of climate change. It takes land use changes causing glacial melt as a data series to feed into the model, but doesn't actually cover the scientific basis for that at all... just takes it as an assumption based on older studies.
This new study shows that past dry spells have been longer and more intense than current conditions (which BTW may themselves be as much due to climate change as land use changes) yet ice did not decline anywhere near as much as it has recently. More importantly it found direct proof of extensive ice MELT at Kilimanjaro... while the 'dry weather' theory you cite holds that the ice is NOT melting to a liquid state, but rather sublimating from ice into water vapor.
Sublimation due to dry weather has been ongoing at Kilimanjaro for centuries, but it is an inherently SLOW process which actually >decreases< in speed as the surface area of ice exposed to the dry air declines. Melting on the other hand >increases< in speed as the amount of ice declines and exposes more dark rock to absorb sunlight and thus cause more warming and greater melt. The speed at which Kilimanjaro ice is now disappearing alone proves that melt has become a major factor... which is confirmed by the direct observation of melting which Thompson's team found.

Conrad of NJ 8:47AM November 03, 2009

The casue of the galcial retreat on Mt. Kilimanjaro is deforestation - NOT GLOBAL WARMING. Theses glaciers are at an altitude that is ALWAYS below freezing. The glacers are retreating because upwind deforestation has affected the cloud cover. Clouds moving upslope condense out as rain and snow. Lack of snowfall is the cause. Sublimation is the reduction of ice and snow in a cold dry climate. This information is widely known in Africa and the scientific community. Thompson knows this but ignores it to propogate a larger agenda.
Source - peer reviewed by the way -
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2008AGUFM.C23A0599F

john of WI 5:25AM November 03, 2009