Opposing Views of Glacial Age and History on Mt. Kilimanjaro

The issue of climate change is becoming increasingly important worldwide, and scientists are looking into the climate history of the past to try and interpret what this planet may experience in the future. In order to reconstruct the climatic history of a region, information is obtained from a variety of different proxies or indirect forms of measurement preserved as evidence in materials such as ice cores and sediment samples. A study conducted by Thompson et al attempts to reconstruct the climate history in the African region using data obtained from glaciers located on Mount Kilimanjaro. An alternative study undertaken by Kaiser et al. disputes the claims made on the ice age and climate history presented by Thompson and his colleges. Both studies illustrate the uncertainties that may arise when analyzing ice core data and the importance in adequately interpreting and analyzing information obtained from glacial deposits.

Climate information taken from ice cores has become important especially in glaciers located in already warm tropical regions because the melting of many glaciers worldwide is predicted in the near future. The “first ice core based climate history for Africa” was reconstructed by Thompson et al. with data obtained from an ice field on Kibo, Mount Kilimanjaro’s highest peak” (589) The proxy records covered the more recent geologic epoch known as the Holocene which began around 11.7 thousand years ago and extends through today.

Some of the techniques used by Thompson et al. in the reconstruction included aerial photographs, automatic weather stations, oxygen isotope (O18) and chemical analysis of pertinent elements, and historical information. Each bit of information is important in telling the story ...

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...this information in a concise and understandable manner which can be used by resource managers and policy makers will be the challenge of scientists. The studies presented here illustrate the uncertainties that may arise when analyzing ice core data and the importance in adequately interpreting and analyzing information obtained from glacial deposits.

Works Cited

Kaser, Georg, Mölg,T., Cullen, N.J., Hardy, D.R., Winkler, M. "Is the Decline of Ice on

Kilimanjaro Unprecedented in the Holocene?" Holocene 20.7 (2010): 1079-91.

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Thompson, L. G., Mosley-Thompson, E., Davis, M. E., Henderson, K. A., Brecher, H.

H., Zagorodnov, V. S., . . . Beer, J. "Kilimanjaro Ice Core Records; Evidence of

Holocene Climate Change in Tropical Africa." Science 298.5593 (2002): 589-93.

ProQuest. Web.6 Feb. 2014 .