Glacier recession on Kilimanjaro, East Africa, 1912–89

Abstract

Abstract The varying ice extent on the Kibo cone of Kilimanjaro, East Africa, this century was reconstructed from terrestrial-photogrammetric mappings in 1912 and 1953 and satellite images in 1976 and 1989. These were all conformed to the official 1:50 000 topographic sheet. The ice distribution on Kibo is characterized by lower ice margins on the southern than on the northern flanks, and deepest-reaching glaciers to the west contrasting with least ice cover on the eastern crater rim. The meridional contrast appears to be related to the more abundant precipitation on the southern side. The even more striking zonal asymmetry in ice cover is favored by the vigorous diurnal circulations, with enhanced afternoon cloudiness blocking insolation on the western slopes. The total ice cover diminished from 12058 to 6675 to 4171 in 3305 × 103 m2 between the years 1912,1953, 1976 and 1989, and the three large coherent ice bodies disintegrated into numerous smaller ice fragments.