Furtwängler Glacier

Furtwangler Glacier is located near the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. The glacier is named after Walter Furtwängler who, along with Siegfried König, were the fourth party to ascend to the summit of Kilimanjaro in 1912.[1]

Furtwängler Glacier
Furtwängler Glacier (foreground) as it appeared in August 2003. Behind the glacier are snowfields and the Northern Icefield
TypeMountain glacier
Coordinates3°4′15″S 37°21′07″E
Area11,000 square metres (2.7 acres) (in 2018)
Thickness6 metres (20 ft) (in 2006)
TerminusMoraine/talus
StatusRetreating

The glacier is a small remnant of an ice cap that once crowned the summit of Kilimanjaro. Almost 85 percent of the ice cover disappeared from October 1912 to June 2011.[2] At the current rate, most of the ice will disappear by 2040 and "it is highly unlikely that any ice body will remain after 2060".[2]

NASA image from 2004 with locations of major glaciers on Mount Kilimanjaro. Areas not identified are generally small remnant glaciers or snowfields. Click on image for detail.

Furtwängler Glacier is ephemeral, existing continuously since only about 1650 CE, which corresponds with very high levels in Kenya's Lake Naivasha and the beginning of the Maunder Minimum.[3] Between measurements in 1976 and 2000, the area of this glacier was cut almost in half, from 113,000 square metres (1,220,000 sq ft) to 60,000 square metres (650,000 sq ft).[4] By 2018 the size shrank to 11,000 square metres (120,000 sq ft).[5]

During fieldwork conducted early in 2006, scientists discovered a large hole near the center of the glacier. This hole, extending through the 6 metres (20 feet) remaining thickness of the glacier to the underlying rock and split the glacier in two by 2007.[4]

See also

References
  1. Stedman, Henry. "History of Kilimanjaro: After Meyer". Excerpt from "Kilimanjaro". Climb Mount Kilimanjaro. Archived from the original on 2008-09-08. Retrieved 2007-05-03.
  2. N. J. Cullen, P. Sirguey, T. Ölg, G. Kaser, M. Winkler, and S. J. Fitzsimons (2013). "A century of ice retreat on Kilimanjaro: the mapping reloaded" (PDF). The Cryosphere. 7: 419–31. doi:10.5194/tc-7-419-2013. Retrieved 2014-10-08.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  3. Thompson, L. G.; Davis, M. E. (2013). "Ice Core Records" (PDF). The Ohio State University. Retrieved 2016-03-07.
  4. Thompson, Lonnie G.; et al. (October 2002). "Kilimanjaro Ice Core Records: Evidence of Holocene Climate Change in Tropical Africa" (pdf). Science. Retrieved 2006-08-31.
  5. Das Mount-Kilimanjaro-Wiki (DE) - Furtwängler Gletscher - Ermittlung der aktuellen Gletschergröße 2018. Retrieved 2019-04-16


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