Kilimanjaro perpetual snow run out by 2022

The Snows of Kilimanjaro, which give their name to a short story by Ernest Hemingway and his film adaptation starring Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner, have been a symbol of romanticism that has engulfed the African continent for centuries. But in recent years have also become a symbol of climate change.

A new study in the permafrost of the highest mountain in Africa, published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Accademy of Sciences' (PNAS) reinforces this idea. The research findings reveal that the glaciers located both in the crater on the slopes of the summit of Kilimanjaro could vanish within 20 years if nothing is done to reverse the current trend of global climate warming.

The study was conducted by the renowned glaciologist at Ohio University (Columbia, USA) Lonnie Thompson, a key figure in the advancement of scientific knowledge on climate change because it was the first to warn of the rapid retreat of perennial ice in the high mountains of the tropics, one of the indicators that sounded the alarm about global warming. For further endorsement of the research, published in PNAS article was edited by James Hansen, director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies at NASA and famous by his confrontation with the Bush administration for forcing him to conceal the causes of climate change.

In 2007 he had lost 85% of the ice on the mountain in 1912 and 26% of the remaining snow in 2000 has disappeared today. "It's the first time that researchers calculate the volume of ice that is lost in a mountain glacier," says Thompson. "Some of those remaining on Kilimanjaro have lost half of its thickness and at some point in the future than a year have snow and the next are completely gone."

The research stated that some of the largest glaciers of the mountain, those in Kibo, one of three volcanic cones that form its summit-will disappear by 2022 if not reversed, the current warming trend. To avoid this, the climate summit in Copenhagen and the previous negotiating sessions that take place in Barcelona this week play a key role. Otherwise, the snows of Kilimanjaro will be a source of inspiration for novelists and filmmakers.