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ENVIRONMENT REPORT - Snow Melting on Mount Kilimanjaro
A new study says ancient snow on top of Mount
Kilimanjaro in Tanzania could be gone in about twenty years. Huge layers
of ice formed on the African mountain during a wet period about eleven-thousand
years ago. But scientists say the ice on top of the mountain is melting
because of rising temperatures in recent years.
Lonnie Thompson of Ohio State University in
Columbus, Ohio led the study. It was published in Science magazine.
The scientists used maps, modern navigational satellites and markers
placed on the mountain to measure the ice. They found that the ice on
Mount Kilimanjaro has shrunk from about twelve square kilometers in
1912 to about two square kilometers today. That is about an eighty percent
reduction in the ice. Scientists say the ice will be gone by 2020 if
it continues to melt at its current rate.
Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in
Africa. It is almost five-thousand-nine-hundred meters high. The top
part of the mountain is covered with snow. The mountain rises above
flat land, called the savannah. The land is home to many different kinds
of animals.
Many stories have been written about the famous
mountain. The most famous is Ernest Hemingway's The Snows of Kilimanjaro.
Some ancient beliefs in Africa consider the mountain to be a holy place.
About 20,000 people visit Mount Kilimanjaro
every year to see the famous snow-topped mountain. It even has its own
international airport. The government of Tanzania fears that the melting
ice will affect tourism and weaken the economy. The decreasing ice already
has reduced the amount of water flowing from the mountain to some Tanzanian
rivers. Water from the mountain supplies many villages.
The scientists are working to save pieces of
the shrinking ice for more study. The frozen layers tell
about Africa's weather in ancient times. The ice also provides information
about the world's climate.
Experts say other ice glaciers around the world
are melting because of climate change caused by human activities. But
they say natural climate change could be the cause of Mount Kilimanjaro's
problems.
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