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| Titel |
Rapid decline of the ice volume of tropical Lewis Glacier, Mount Kenya, during the last half-century |
| VerfasserIn |
Rainer Prinz, Andrea Fischer, Lindsey Nicholson, Stefanie Gruber, Georg Kaser  |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2011
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 13 (2011) |
| Datensatznummer |
250053127
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Lewis Glacier on Mt Kenya has a unique history of detailed study, making it the best
documented tropical glacier. Here we present ice thickness measurements of Lewis Glacier
in 2010, made by ground penetrating radar, and ice volume estimates based on
previous surface topography maps for the years 1963, 1974, 1983, 1993, 2004, and
our own survey for 2010. Total ice volume in 2010 is 2.00Ã106 m3 with a mean
(maximum) ice depth of 19 m (46 m), which is one order of magnitude larger than
previously published values. Since 1963, 10.96Ã106 m3 (85%) of the ice volume
has been lost, with a corresponding maximum surface lowering of 70 m close to
the current glacier terminus. Glacier area decreased from 0.39Ã106 m2 (1963) to
0.11Ã106 m2 (2010). The rates of mean annual mass balance, as derived from
decadal volume changes, were smallest from 1963-1974 (-0.28 m water equivalent
(w.e.)/a) and from 2004-2010 (-0.26 m w.e./a) and greatest between 1993 and 2004
(-2.29 m w.e./a), indicating the most rapid ice loss around the turn of the century. |
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