Recent glacial recession in the Rwenzori Mountains of East Africa due to rising air temperature

Taylor, Richard G.; Mileham, Lucinda; Tindimugaya, Callist; Majugu, Abushen; Muwanga, Andrew; Nakileza, Bob

doi:10.1029/2006gl025962

Cited by 82 publications

(82 citation statements)

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“…This implies that the recent Kilimanjaro ice loss was due not to drying, but primarily to atmospheric warming. Taylor et al (2006) suggested that a warming trend has been the primary driver of glacier recession in the Rwenzori Mountains, matching the extent of recession to local meteorological records.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 77%

Altered Ecologies: Fire, climate and human influence on terrestrial landscapes: Terra Australis 32

Haberle¹,

Stevenson²,

Prebble³

2010

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terra australis 32Terra Australis reports the results of archaeological and related research within the south and east of Asia, though mainly Australia, New Guinea and island Melanesia -lands that remained terra australis incognita to generations of prehistorians. Its subject is the settlement of the diverse environments in this isolated quarter of the globe by peoples who have maintained their discrete and traditional ways of life into the recent recorded or remembered past and at times into the observable present.Since the beginning of the series, the basic colour on the spine and cover has distinguished the regional distribution of topics as follows: ochre for Australia, green for New Guinea, red for South-East Asia and blue for the Pacific Islands. From 2001, issues with a gold spine will include conference proceedings, edited papers and monographs which in topic or desired format do not fit easily within the original arrangements. All volumes are numbered within the same series. Copyright of the text remains with the contributors/authors, 2009. This book is copyright in all countries subscribing to the Berne convention. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Inquiries should be made to the publisher. Among saltbush greyer than seaweed we boardwalk the yeasting waves of the old golden-perch pond. List of volumes in Terra AustralisRabbit dung dots a lake bottom dry since their coming -only once, last century, after seven inches of rain a farmer had to rescue his sheep by boat.The roo bounces down-slope, a brown branch crackling.The professor's eye, noting the local runoff and what the westerlies do, observes seas that rush in and out of a continent's middle, salt lakes spreading and emptying, hills pimpling up and down with cartoon-like speed, or gullying themselves into extinction, rainforests and deserts zipping back and forth like Tom and Jerry. A human mouse plague swiftly swarms, perhaps soon gone.Impermanent planet. Impermanent surface. All under air and water. The lunette is a wave, a dumper of sand, a collapsing tower in the mad rabbit years when its top blew off and old bones winked through, with a vault's worth of fine stone cores.Once so simply mislaid in sand, now so obligingly sluiced out to the un-subincised world that smiles at stone knives. terra australis 32Altered Ecologies: Fire, climate and human influence on terrestrial landscapes v You might as well offer your table knife to a carpenter.Cane grass and the Dreamtime's stone fight the eroding rivulets together. In today's rare downpour each lost core, or blunted scraper crowns some tiny eroding hillock, plops its anchor in the dissolving silts.The bettong whose skin took off the stone tool's edge has vanished -sacrifice to future fertility.Through the softening soil Homo sapiens's skeleton bumps up like a carp's back.Waits for the wind to shave it off in pieces.A D-section and a ti...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 77%

Altered Ecologies: Fire, climate and human influence on terrestrial landscapes: Terra Australis 32

Haberle¹,

Stevenson²,

Prebble³

2010

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“…The annual precipitation is estimated at about lwe 20 cm (Mörth, 1970;Hastenrath, 1984, p. 17;Hemp, 2005). For Rwenzori (Figure 1(b)) there is an ample evidence of drastic and progressive shrinkage of ice area (Hastenrath, 1984(Hastenrath, , 2005b(Hastenrath, , 2006Kaser and Osmaston, 2002;Taylor et al, 2006), but no quantitative information on changes in ice thickness. …”

Section: Observationsmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…A drastic and progressive shrinkage of ice extent is indeed indicated for the Ecuadorian Andes and New Guinea (Hastenrath, 1981(Hastenrath, , 2008Klein and Kincaid, 2006), and particularly well documented for the glaciated high mountains of East Africa (Hastenrath, 1984(Hastenrath, , 2005a(Hastenrath, , 2005b(Hastenrath, , 2006(Hastenrath, , 2008Hastenrath and Greischar, 1997;Kaser and Osmaston, 2002;Taylor et al, 2006), Mount Kenya, Kilimanjaro and Rwenzori (Figure 1(b)). The relation to climatic change appears qualitatively obvious.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…With the growing awareness of global change, the glaciers on the high mountains of the low latitudes are increasingly being recognized as particularly climate sensitive components of the environment (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2001, p. 127-130, 647-656;Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2007, p. 337-383; World Glacier Monitoring Service of IASH-ICSI-UNEP- UNESCO, 1996UNESCO, , 2005aUNESCO, , 2005bMölg et al, 2003aMölg et al, , 2003bMölg and Hardy, 2004;Kaser et al, 2004;Hastenrath, 2006;Taylor et al, 2006). A drastic and progressive shrinkage of ice extent is indeed indicated for the Ecuadorian Andes and New Guinea (Hastenrath, 1981(Hastenrath, , 2008Klein and Kincaid, 2006), and particularly well documented for the glaciated high mountains of East Africa (Hastenrath, 1984(Hastenrath, , 2005a(Hastenrath, , 2005b(Hastenrath, , 2006(Hastenrath, , 2008Hastenrath and Greischar, 1997;Kaser and Osmaston, 2002;Taylor et al, 2006), Mount Kenya, Kilimanjaro and Rwenzori (Figure 1(b)).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Climatic forcing of glacier thinning on the mountains of equatorial East Africa

Hastenrath¹

2009

Intl Journal of Climatology

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Equatorial glaciers are particularly climate sensitive components of the environment and their area shrinkage is spectacular, but the quantitative appraisal of climatic forcing requires information on net balance and changing ice thickness. Unique in the tropical belt, observations of mass budget and surface topography have been gathered by decadeslong monitoring on Mount Kenya, particularly its largest, the Lewis Glacier. More limited information on ice thickness change is available for the summit of Kilimanjaro. Sensitivity analyses with constant precipitation, net allwave radiation and relative humidity serve to explore the sensible and latent heat transfer processes; humidity change riding on that of temperature providing the more substantial energy contribution to ablation. For Lewis Glacier it is found that with air some 0.7°C cooler the mass budget could reach equilibrium. Observations on the secular evolution of air temperature and humidity in the areas of Mount Kenya and Rwenzori show compatible magnitudes, although contribution by radiative forcing cannot be excluded. For the summit of Kilimanjaro, above the mean freezing level, where ablation is limited to sublimation, turbulent heat transfer processes associated with temperature differences cannot account for the imbalance of the mass budget, and solar radiation forcing continues to be important for both the ice thinning and the lateral retreat of ice cliffs.

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“…Glacial water reservoirs on the peaks of Rwenzori and Mount Kenya are facing serious threats [33] [34], which are largely attributed to raising air temperatures and reduced humidity including rainfall. In the Lubombo, vegetation change over a period of 70 years has reduced grazing space for cattle.…”

Section: Effect Of Climate Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Transboundary Conservation Areas in African Mountains: Opportunities and Challenges for Addressing Global Change

Roga¹

2017

EARTH

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Abstract:The last 15 years have seen the establishment of several transboundary conservation areas (TBCAs) in Africa, presenting a unique opportunity of using an integrated ecosystem approach for promoting sustainable ecosystems services. TBCAs have unique characteristics for livelihood improvement of adjacent human communities. Mountain TBCAs in Africa, are increasingly being threatened due to commercial exploitation as well as population and commercial growth, resulting in logging, conflicts and poor land use practices. This is being exacerbated by challenges of climate change. We examined the potential of the TBCA approach for the alleviation of such threats and promoting sustainable mountain development including adaptation and coping mechanisms with respect to climate change. Data and information was gathered largely through field observations, discussions and relevant secondary sources. The results revealed that: 1) While single countries have developed frontier areas within the established TBPAs there is a lack of transboundary governance that enables transboundary development of infrastructure and the sustainable management of natural resources. 2) Socio-economic development and adaptation of human communities towards climate change inside TBPAs have largely taken place as part of activities not connected to the establishment of a TBCA. In conclusion for realising the exceptional opportunities that TBPAs offer, two things are important; 1) To date, biodiversity conservation inside TBPAs has been emphasised. Sustainable livelihood improvement inside a TBPAs should be the point of departure for achieving conservation of natural resources including biodiversity. 2) The establishment of consistent transboundary governance is crucial for achieving that.

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Recent glacial recession in the Rwenzori Mountains of East Africa due to rising air temperature

Abstract: [1] Based on field surveys and analyses of optical spaceborne images (LandSat5, LandSat7), we report recent decline in the areal extent of glaciers in the Rwenzori Mountains of East Africa from 2.01 ± 0.56 km

Cited by 82 publications

References 24 publications

Altered Ecologies: Fire, climate and human influence on terrestrial landscapes: Terra Australis 32

Altered Ecologies: Fire, climate and human influence on terrestrial landscapes: Terra Australis 32

Climatic forcing of glacier thinning on the mountains of equatorial East Africa

Transboundary Conservation Areas in African Mountains: Opportunities and Challenges for Addressing Global Change

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