World View of Global Warming

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 disappear within 20 years if nothing is done to reverse the current trend of global climate warming.



 

Portage Glacier 1914

Portage Glacier 2004

Glaciers across Western China and the Tibetan Plateau are shrinking, threatening more water shortages

In northern Guangdong, farmers who had good wells now must carry water past dried up fish ponds.

China is the rousing giant of global warming. It stands as a developing nation outside the guidelines of the Kyoto treaty, yet with more than one billion people and a huge energy-gobbling economy, it is one of the most influential countries in climate change.

Greenland's huge icecap, second only to Antarctica, is also showing signs of change, although measurements are preliminary. Outflow glaciers like this one on the central east coast, as measured by NASA airborne radar and laser, appear to be thinning and flowing more rapidly. The National Climate Data Center (NOAA) reports that 2002 saw the greatest measured surface melt of Greenland ice in 24 years of satellite records. Two deep ice cores from there provide a detailed Northern Hemisphere climate record extending beyond the last ice age.

Some of us are adjusting nicely..

Hummm  I wonder where the man is that was sitting in that chair......