HR: 0800h
AN: C51B-0290    [Abstracts]
TI: Glacier Recession on Kilimanjaro: Complexity and Spatial Variability in Climatic Forcing
AU: * Moelg, T
EM: thomas.moelg@uibk.ac.at
AF: Tropical Glaciology Group, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Innsbruck, Innrain 52, Innsbruck, 6020 Austria
AU: Cullen, N J
EM: nicolas.cullen@uibk.ac.at
AF: Tropical Glaciology Group, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Innsbruck, Innrain 52, Innsbruck, 6020 Austria
AU: Hardy, D R
EM: dhardy@geo.umass.edu
AF: Climate System Research Center, Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts, 611 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01003-9297 United States
AU: Kaser, G
EM: georg.kaser@uibk.ac.at
AF: Tropical Glaciology Group, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Innsbruck, Innrain 52, Innsbruck, 6020 Austria
AB: The receding glaciers on Kilimanjaro, equatorial east Africa, are regarded as important indicators of climate change. Despite similarities to other tropical glaciers, they warrant a special view because of peculiar, local environmental circumstances (topography of the mountain, glacier shape and distribution). From preliminary observations it has been established that there are at least three different glacier regimes on the mountain, which differ in exchange of energy and mass at their glacier-atmosphere interface. For the first time in our joint project, direct field measurements are now available for all three glacier regimes. Based on these data from automatic weather stations, and their application to energy balance models, an overview of the three glacier regimes is presented here. In particular, the processes that remove mass from the glaciers, and the associated climate forcings, are addressed. Emerging details about energy and mass exchange characteristics provide solid clues about the causal mechanisms of glacier retreat on Kilimanjaro, but also for related questions like local hydrology.
UR: http://geowww.uibk.ac.at/glacio/RESEARCH/KILI/
DE: 1827 Glaciology (0736, 0776, 1863)
DE: 3307 Boundary layer processes
DE: 3374 Tropical meteorology
SC: Cryosphere [C]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005