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Mountain Moisture Melting
felis_panthera writes "Yahoo! News has a Full Coverage story on how global warming is causing the ice cap atop Mt. Kilimanjaro to melt. It goes on to say that it has shrunk by 80% in the last century, and will probably be completely gone in another two decades. The ice cap is believed to have formed some eleven millenia ago. Some African rivers have already seen a decrease in volume, and it is feared that the loss of the ice cap will also cause a drop off in tourism."
However, this article makes it clear the author blames a good portion of the recent loss on global warming.
It also tells a dramatic story of environmental disaster not caused by people, both fairly recently:
- The core data showed that in 1790, the cycle changed, the rains lessened and drought took hold in the region, a condition that continued for seven years until 1796 when the monsoons returned.
as well as 4,000 years ago:"That event was major," Thompson said. "It killed more than 600,000 people in one region of India alone. And that was at a time when global populations were much less than they are today." (Estimates place the world population in 1800 at 980 million.) "If a similar event occurred today, the social and economic disruptions would be horrendous," he said. Current world population is just over 6 billion people.
- That wet period ended and the ice corings show that Africa slid into a deep drought about 4,000 years ago.
This dry period, said Thompson, is also found in other records, including some written history.
So, yeah, global warming is pretty important. But compared to Mother Nature, we look like rank amateurs. But that's ok... we appear to be rapidly catching up."This dry period appears in the historic record in Egypt," he said. "Writings on tombs talk about sand dunes moving across the Nile and people migrating. Some have called this the Earth's first dark age."
Africa was not alone in the global drought. Thompson said other records show that civilizations during this period collapsed in India, the Middle East and South America.
The story on CNN:
n jaro.thaw.ap/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/science/10/17/kilima
FYI....Those "slaves" are mountain porters, and anybody climbing the mountain must have permits and porters. The permits are pricey, I think about $300-500 US and upwards, depending on how long you're going to be on the mountain. The porters are also required and climbing fees (not just permits) include their hire. Mostly to spread the wealth around a bit more. I totally agree with you on the trashed out bit. The most common, 5-day route up the hill is called the "Coca Cola" route since it's gotten so trashed out.
yellowcat ^_^ ??
On the other hand, people was going somewhat overboard in their enthusiasm of spraying with DDT, and the long time for natural decomposition meant it would accumulate through the food chain. One of the effects spotted was weaker eggs in birds of prey, especially those eating fish, such as in the antarctic region. As usual, it was the continued increased exposure that worried scientists, not the short-term effects (and yes, we live on top of the food-chain too).
Oblinks:
So, it seems reasonable that we could continue to use some DDT, but because of the worrying long-term effects, it shouldn't be used as freely as in the 40's and 50's. The fact that we are still debating it's effects after 60 years shows us that Malaria/DDT is not an easy issue. As an added complication comes the economic divide between north and south, if it was us living in malaria-infected areas, we would probably have kept spraying...
That claims this is a normal cycle. That ice coring in the Antarctic have shown that these global temperature changes are cycling every few hundred years.
Get a free ipod.
That's kinda funny, but far more damage is contributed by stationary polluting sources, like factories. FAR more than any vehicles made in the last 10 years.
We are rapidly approaching a time when most cars will be coming out with zero or near-zero emissions systems. Some are already out now.
Aim your bitching more towards the factories and coal burners of the world. The car companies are literally cleaning up their acts.
"And like that
At that altitude, the ice and snow don't melt, they evaporate into the air, and thus don't feed the rivers.
There's only a small "sweatband" of snow left on Kilimanjaro, the rest is (steep) scree and rock slopes.
So much for the pleasure of glissading back down after you summit!
Kilimanjaro is just one small part of a much bigger trend of glaciers around the world shrinking. In fact, a majority of the world's glaciers are shrinking according to a USGS study.
While almost all climate scientists agree global warming is happening, some are still unsure about whether it is being caused by humans.
pi = 3.141592653589793helpimtrappedinauniversefactory7
I may be completely off, but doesn't ice take up more volume than an equivalent mass of water.
So if the polar caps melted, wouldn't the sea levels drop?
The most visible example is Rush Limbaugh, whose knowledge of science is stubbornly zero, and who thus has indeed stated that mankind is too insignificant to cause such changes.
The thing that Rush often mentions are the various large volcano erruptions that have occurred within written history. Comparing and contrasting these natural events to what industry spews out into the sky.
One thing that's kind of curious here is that I don't believe your views on this would be all that much different than what Rush has presented on his show. He's made comments concerning Kyoto that sound quite a bit like what you're saying.
He sort of becomes this 2 dimensional caricature of the right wing to critics who don't listen to what he's actually saying. Personally, I have my disagreements with where he stands on certain issues, but the show is worth the listen as he rarely shows up without facts to back up his arguments. He really isn't a propoganda mouth piece as is often claimed.
The line must be drawn here. This far. No further.
I know this is late and nobody will probably read this, but I can't believe nobody mentioned this:
It has shrunk by 80% in the last century, overall. But several years ago, the dormant volcano (Mount Kilimanjaro) erupted. I'd say that did more of the ice-melting than a slow increase in heat due to natural waxing and waning of polar regions in the long term, wouldn't you?