October fieldwork!

We were back on the glaciers for fieldwork in October! As previously reported (here), the pandemic and logistical issues prevented us from visiting since February 2020, and although 'automated', our weather stations on the ice are not self-maintaining. Over the course of the ensuing three years, problems and damage occurred - so one of our objectives last month was to remove weather instrumentation and mass balance stakes. With tremendous help from the porters and staff of Summit Expeditions (SENE), we were successful. The next step is examining data we recovered, and evaluating options to continue measurements with new instrumentation!

Doug Hardy (UMass), Mike Winkler (GeoSphere Austria), and Emily Collier (Univ. Innsbruck). 

Click on any image to enlarge:

Fig. 1 (above): Kibo and 5,000 meters of relief, from Moshi. Preparing to head up again was very exciting, first time in over 3 years!

Fig. 2 (above): Our first task, led by Emily and her newly-funded research, was exploring the Kilimanjaro Mountain Club archives - in search of historical observations pertaining to the impacts of Tropical Cyclones on Kilimanjaro precipitation.

Fig. 3 (above): Morning of day two, a favorite view on the Umbwe Trail. These southern slopes were once covered by the Southern Icefield. Only fragments remain today, including sections of the Kersten Glacier (center).

Fig. 4 (above): Umbwe route passes through a recently-burned area below Barranco Camp, one of several new fire scars seen on this trip.

Fig. 5 (above): Diamond Glacier, Breach Icicle, and fragments of the Balletto Glacier. The icicle is larger than in 2020* due to meltwater drainage from above. Also note extensive rockfall onto the Balletto. (*2020 image here.)

Fig. 6 (above): Mike and Emily above Karanga Camp. Kersten Glacier remnants are visible above Mike, and the Rebmann Glacier is above Emily; between them is the vanishingly meager Decken Glacier ice.

Fig. 7 (above): Team member Mathayo Melio, preparing fresh greens (Kale) at Barafu Camp.

Fig. 8 (above): Late afternoon at Barafu, where multiple helicopter pickups are now occurring daily - typically to expedite the descent of wealthy clients.

Fig. 9 (above): Wishful thinking. Simon is testing whether he can transmit a message directly from his brain through this cable. Kilimanjaro Park authorities are testing whether they can string fiber optic cable along the trails for tourists to post on Instagram. We had no success with either. Increasing rockfall and debris flows on the mountain could make unprotected fiber maintenance difficult...

Fig. 10 (above): Riming on the Uhuru sign, as the weather clears. Northern Icefield in the distance.

Fig. 11 (above): Furtwängler Glacier from above. Since 2020 the area has decreased by seventy percent (yes, in 3 yearss); the glacier's demise is imminent.

Fig. 12 (above): Upper Kersten Glacier, October 2017; find the weather station. Zoom in, as this is a panorama. Then find the relatively thick, clean stratum and compare it's position to that in 2023 (next image).

Fig. 13 (above): Kersten Glacier upper margin, where thinning and lateral retreat continue. Where is the weather station? Occasional collapses of the wall and a marginal meltwater lake has been noted for 20+ years. However, compare the thick, clean ice layer position here with that 2017 (prior image) or in 2014, 9 years ago (with Will Gadd for scale).

Fig. 14 (above): Mike investigating ice blocks where the Kersten Glacier margin most-recently collapsed. Find the weather station (we couldn't either).

Fig. 15 (above): The largest remaining fragments of the former Eastern Icefield. The right-hand block is featured in the Red Bull film.

Fig. 16 (above): Northern Icefield margin, just west of camp. Note person for scale, just right of center - and the interesting basal stratigraphy.

Fig. 17 (above): Wonderful textures photo taken by Mike.

Fig. 18 (above): Northern Icefield margin, looking west toward camp. Compare to this similar view in February 2000.

Fig. 19 (above): Northern Icefield again... but the northern margin. As evident here, in next image, and elsewhere - the ice is fracturing to a greater extent than previously seen.

Fig. 20 (above): A fresh, curious collapse feature at the Northern Icefield margin. An ice layer associated with ponded and frozen supraglacial meltwater can be seen at the top of the fracture. These have been occasionally observed on Kibo's glaciers, always frozen at the surface.

Fig. 21 (above): A portion of AWS being carried through penitentes on the Northern Icefield. These particularly-large penitentes made walking difficult!

Fig. 22 (above): The AWS tower being carried back across the crater toward Uhuru Peak, 23 years after being brought up!

Fig. 23 (above): Doug, Emily, and Simon - along with about 20 other team members - prepare for a tree-planting ceremony honoring climate research on the mountain.

Fig. 24 (above): Final preparations for a feast celebrating safe and successful fieldwork! Much of this food was grown right on Simon's farm.