Africa’s few glaciers are disappearing rapidly due to the climate crisis – and could be gone by mid-century, according to a study. This is evident from an analysis of high-resolution satellite images.
On the almost 6,000 meter high Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, the approximately 5,300 meter high Mount Kenya in Kenya and the approximately 5,100 meter high Rwenzori Mountains on the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, ice areas have increased since the first years of climate change. The 21st century alone, century has more than halved.
Satellite images evaluated
This is the conclusion of an international team of researchers in the journal “Environmental Research” and with the participation of Georg Kaser and Rainer Prinz from the University of Innsbruck. For the study, the experts evaluated high-resolution satellite images.
The group has thus closed a gap because there was no data from previous years, Anne Hinzmann of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg said on Monday. The last measurements were made in 2005 on the Ruwenzori Mountains, in 2011 on Kilimanjaro and in 2016 on Mount Kenya.
According to the new analysis, it was shown that the largest ice area in Africa on Kilimanjaro had decreased from 11.4 square kilometers in 1900 to 0.98 square kilometers between 2021 and 2022. On Mount Kenya, the ice shrank from 1.64 square kilometers in 1899 to 0.07 square kilometers in 2021/2022, in the Rwenzori Mountains from 6.51 square kilometers in 1906 to 0.38 square kilometers in 2021/2022.
Since 1900, 90% of the glacier ice has disappeared
“Since glacier areas were first mapped in the early 19th and 20th centuries, more than 90 percent of their areas have disappeared,” Hinzmann explains. According to the study, the three tropical glacier areas are so high that, unlike the Alps, the retreat of the ice there cannot be directly attributed to rising temperatures in the areas.
Less and less precipitation in rainy seasons
However, changes in precipitation play an important role. It was said that the rainy seasons have become drier since the late 19th century, causing less ice to form and the glacier to retreat. There are also more cloudless days when sunshine can melt the ice even when the temperature is below zero.
Source: Krone
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