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Kilimanjaro

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  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Snow, Ice and Glaciers

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

Definition

Kilimanjaro is Africa’s highest mountain (5,895 m), located in northern Tanzania just south of the Kenya border (3°4′S; 37°21′E). At the seasonally snow-covered summit, the extent of glacier ice is now less than 2 km2, roughly half of that remaining on the continent.

Overview

The cryosphere is sparsely represented in Africa, primarily on a small handful of the continent’s highest mountains. Among these is Kilimanjaro, the “white roof of Africa,” whose glaciers have achieved notoriety far out of proportion to their size (miniscule), importance as a water resource (negligible), or potential contribution to sea-level rise (zero). Yet, Kilimanjaro’s summit mantle of Snow (qv) and Ice (qv) is starkly beautiful, and thus among the mountain’s most fascinating, distinctive, and best-known attributes. Thousands of international visitors are attracted annually, bringing valuable tourism revenue to Tanzania.

Geographic setting

Kilimanjaro is a massive, dormant volcano in Tanzania,...

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Acknowledgments

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), and NOAA Office of Global Programs, Climate Change Data and Detection Program, under Grant No. 0402557, and NSF ATM-9909201 (Paleoclimate Program) to the University of Massachusetts. Additional support was provided by NOAA U.S. Global Climate Observing System.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Climate System Research Center and Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts, Morrill Science Center, 611 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA, 01003-9297, USA

    Douglas R. Hardy

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  1. Douglas R. Hardy
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Correspondence to Douglas R. Hardy .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA

    Vijay P. Singh

  2. New Delhi, India

    Pratap Singh

  3. University of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio, USA

    Umesh K. Haritashya

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© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

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Hardy, D.R. (2011). Kilimanjaro. In: Singh, V.P., Singh, P., Haritashya, U.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Snow, Ice and Glaciers. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2642-2_315

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