Become a member
Quick Registration
Full Registration Benefits -
Free Homepages for Doctors
Free Homepages for Hospitals
Free Homepages for Medical Conference
Free Homepages for NGO's
Personal Health Record Creation
Access to all Medical Slides
Access to all Jobs & Products Sale
By 2060 Mount Kilimanjaro may be Ice Free | |
|
| |
 |  |  | Comments |  |
 |  |
 |
 |
 |  |
 |
 Text  |
The world's highest free-standing mountain, Mount Kilimanjaro, could be gone by 2060, scientists have claimed.
Between 1912 and 2011, the mass of ice on the summit of the 19,341ft dormant stratovolcano in Tanzania decreased by more than 85 percent, researchers with NASA's Earth Observatory said.
Kimberly Casey, a glaciologist based at the US space agency's Goddard Space Flight Centre, who visited the mountain earlier this year, also noticed Kilimanjaro's north ice field had separated.
The glacier had been developing a hole since the Seventies, but this is the first year in which it had been seen to divide in two, the Daily Mail reported.
"We were able to walk on land - or we could have even ridden a bicycle - directly through the rift," Dr Casey said.
Scientists now warn it's no longer a question of whether Kilimanjaro's ice will disappear, but when.
Estimates vary, but several scientists predict it will be gone by 2060.
Despite Mount Kilimanjaro's location in the tropics, the dry and cold air at the top of the mountain has sustained large quantities of ice for more than 10,000 years.
At points, ice has completely surrounded the crater. Studies of ice core samples show that Kilimanjaro's ice has persisted through multiple warm spells, droughts, and periods of abrupt climate change.
Rising air temperatures due to global warming could be contributing to the ice loss, researchers said, but a number of other factors are just as important, if not more so.
An increasingly dry regional atmosphere, for example, is starving the mountain of the fresh snow needed to sustain the ice fields.
Drier air is also reducing cloud cover and allowing more solar energy to warm the ice surfaces.
Source-ANI
| |
|
|
 Comment & Contribute
|
Related Links
Research Finds High Risk of Acute Mountain Sickness on Mount Kilimanjaro
A new study has found that climbers of high peaks such as Mount Kilimanjaro are at high risk for Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS). Trekkers ...
Kilimanjaro Climbers Could be Playing With Their Health
Experts have warned people against climbing Mount Kilimanjaro as they could be putting their health at risk. Travel firms have seen an ...
Devastating Effects of Global Warming Have Made Time Atlas to Be Redrawn
Cartographers of the Times Comprehensive Atlas of the world have redrawn coastlines and land types following inundation of coastal areas due to ...
Shrinking of Mt. Kilimanjaro's Ice Cap Not Due to Global Warming: Study
The dwindling icecap atop Africa's Mount Kilimanjaro cannot be attributed to human induced global warming, an American and an Austrian researcher duo ...
Research Related News
Patients With Central Nervous System Infections may Suffer More
In Vietnam and other locations, patients with central nervous system infections may well be suffering from the effects of a newly discovered virus. ...
Naturally Occurring Hormone Induces Egg Maturation During Infertility Treatment
According to a clinical in vitro fertilization (IVF) study, the naturally occurring hormone kisspeptin effectively induces egg maturation during ...
Age Disparities Exist in HIV Continuum of Care
For patients with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), age disparities exist in the continuum of care with people younger than 45 years less ...
Diabetes Patients Who Use Meters to Monitor Their Glucose Levels Have Better Control Over The Disease
At the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, researchers will present several new studies at ENDO 2013, The Endocrine Society's Annual Meeting & ...
Gastric Bypass Surgery Restores Nerve Cell Properties Altered by Diet
Understanding how gastric bypass surgery changes the properties of nerve cells could lead to new treatments that produce the same results without ...
The Saga of Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma
Adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) is a slow-growing and often fatal malignancy. It is most frequently found in the salivary glands and can occur at ...
- Health News Index
- News Quick Links
 | News Central | | Health Watch | |
| Latest Health News | | Health In Focus | |
| News Category (500+) | | Breaking Health News | |
| Popular News | | Celebrating Life | |
| Health News and Press Release | | Medindia - Exclusive | |
| News Photo Gallery | | India Special | |
| News Video Gallery | | Lifestyle and Wellness | |
| News From Other Resources | |||
| News Categories: |
| » | New Drug Improves Sleep Disorder Among the Blind |
| » | Australia Imposes Interim Ban on Synthetic Drugs |
| » | Osteoporosis Drug Stops Growth of Breast Cancer Cells |
| » | Increase in Heroin Availability Across Washington State |
| » | Anti-Baldness Drug can Help Curb Mens Inclination Towards Alcohol |
| More Drug News | |
|
Ask an Expert
