Melting Snow Caps

Global warming is an often debated topic especially by environmentalists and politicians. Arguments occur over whether global warming is actually occurring, as well arguments surround the ideas of what the reasons are, and what the outcomes will be. The only way to support such an argument for either global warming occurring or not occurring is through scientific evidence. The concept of global warming is strongly evident by the melting of glaciers. Specifically, it has been found that the mountaintop glaciers atop the peak of mount Kilimanjaro have been melting. The white peaks of the African mountain are both receding as well as thinning. Researchers found that, of these mountaintop glaciers, the northern ice field thinned roughly 1.9 meters, and that the southern ice field had melted roughly 5.1 meters during the seven years from 2000 to 2007. The quickly shrinking ice fields atop Kilimanjaro are very concerning signs to many scientists that the temperatures near Earth surface are increasing. This increase in temperature in the mid to upper tropical troposphere is clear evidence that global warming is in fact occurring. Even more frightening is the evidence of global warming that Kilimanjaro is not the only mountain that is rapidly losing it’s snow covered peaks. Three other examples of mountains that have vanishing snow caps are Mount Kenya and the Rwenzori mountains, in Africa, as well as the Himalayas, in South America. These mountains in the tropics and sub-tropics serve as clear evidence of melting mountaintop glaciers. Data collected by scientists has reveled that roughly 85 percent of the ice, that existed atop Mount Kilimanjaro in 1912, had melted by 2007. In addition, research found that in just seven years a quarter of the ice that had been been there in 2000 was gone by 2007. The research discovered about Mount Kilimanjaro suggests that global warming is having its effects, especially on snow covered mountains, and proposes the question of how much longer these mountains will retain their infamous white peaks. The information previously discussed comes from an article called “snow cap disappearing from Mount Kilimanjaro”, written by Randolph E Schmid.