By Andrew Morris, Will Snider, and Dillon Stern Melting Mountains Are retreating equatorial East African glaciers indicative of larger global warming trends? What are the effects of this retreat? By Andrew Morris, Will Snider, and Dillon Stern

Introduction Statement of Objectives Methodology Global warming? Long-term climate change? Methodology Air temperature vs. precipitation

Evidence Maps of ice extent atop Kibo in 1912, 1953, 1976, 2000 12km2 --> 2.6km2 80% decrease Hasenrath et al, 1997

Causes - Air Temperature Using lake levels to rule out significance of precipitation

Causes - Air Temperature (cont’d) Ice core samples from Kilimanjaro Dust levels proxy for precipitation Historically, the glaciers survived a 300-year drought

Causes - Precipitation Precipitation is particularly important because snowfall governs energy exchanges on the flat, dark volcanic sand adjacent to the vertical ice walls (Hardy, 2007). These vertical walls accounts for much of the continuous decrease in areal extent of the glaciers A minimum monthly snowfall of ~10cm is needed to prevent glacial melting Hardy, 2007

Impact Water No significant effect on water supply Tourism?

Conclusion No clear evidence that East African glacial recession is evidence of global warming Future research