Furtwängler Glacier

About Furtwängler Glacier


The 'Furtwängler Glacier' is located near the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. Furtwängler Glacier is a small remnant of an enormous icecap which once crowned the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. This icecap has retreated significantly over the past century and between 1912 and the 2000, 82 percent of the glacial ice on the mountain has disappeared.[1] The retreat of glacial ice on the summit is expected to continue and by the year 2020, all the glaciers on top of the mountain may be gone,[2] although seasonal snows will continue to cover the higher sections of the mountain for several months of the year. The glacier is named after Walter Furtwängler, who along with Ziegfried Koenig, were the fourth to ascend to the summit of Kilimanjaro in 1912.[3]
Between measurements in 1976 and 2000, the area of Furtwängler Glacier was cut almost in half, from 113,000 m² to 60,000 m².[4] During fieldwork conducted early in 2006, scientists discovered a large hole near the center of the glacier. This hole, extending through the 6 meter (20 ft) remaining thickness of the glacier to the underlying rock, is expected to grow and split the glacier in two by 2007.
NASA image from 2004 with locations of major glaciers on Mount Kilimanjaro. Areas not identified are generally small remnant glaciers or snowfields. Click on image for detail.

The 2006 study found that no new glacial ice has accumulated on any of the glaciers on the mountain in the 21st century. This may mark the termination of a unique 11,700 year record of climate variability in Africa. Only ice cores previously obtained and preserved in the freezers of the laboratories of glaciologists will remain.
The demise of the Furtwängler Glacier, and the other remaining Kilimanjaro glaciers, may reduce tourism because the novelty of glacier ice in proximity to the equator is one of the attractions of the area. Even more immediate is the potential adverse impact on the availability of fresh water from springs and wells that are partially supplied by glacier melt. An investigation of the fraction of fresh water supplied by this source is underway.

Contents
See also
References

See also



★ Retreat of glaciers since 1850

★ List of glaciers

References



1. Snows of Kilimanjaro Disappearing, Glacial Ice Loss Increasing
2. Vanishing into Thin Air
3. The history of Kilimanjaro
4. Kilimanjaro Ice Core Records: Evidence of Holocene Climate Change in Tropical Africa



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