Snowfall continues

Consistent with the regional rainfall picture, Kilimanjaro's summit is seeing day after day of snowfall. Last week the Northern Ice Field saw another ~10 cm of snow accumulation!

Short rains begin

On the Northern Ice Field, snow began accumulating on 26 October as the regional "short rains" got underway. Timba at Ahsante Tours & Safaris reports that Kibo was white on Monday Morning (2 Nov.), and telemetry shows that by Tuesday morning 8 cm blanketed the glacier at the AWS.

So for the 2009 dry season, between the last snowfall in mid-June and the end of October, surface lowering at the Northern Ice Field weather station was 52 cm. This amount is not atypical, as the short rains have come more-or-less on schedule. However, since the dry period on Kilimanjaro began in June 2008, ablation has been quite exceptional - over 1.5 meters of ice. An interesting perspective on the East African drought's cumulative impact - just prior to the short rains - can be seen on NASA's Earth Observatory website. Now, in this El Nino year, flooding has become a problem further north in Kenya.

-Doug Hardy, UMass Geosciences

Snow!

The long dry interval at the summit is over, and snow is again accumulating for the first time since mid-June. Our recent fieldwork aspired to visit the glaciers just before the short rains began, and it seems that our timing worked out. After descending on the 9th, we experienced a heavy, extended rain event the next day at Mbahe (near Marangu). Humidity remained high that afternoon at the AWS, with possibly a dusting of snow. Then snow and sustained high humidity was recorded on the 15th and 16th; during this time Simon reports spending a "hot night" in the crater (i.e., thick cloud cover). AWS measurements show that the wet season really got underway this week on Monday. Telemetry through this morning shows that snowfall continued through Tuesday and Wednesday, with a net of ~4 cm. This is enough to bring the glacier surface albedo up by 20-30 percent!

Fieldwork photos

Here is a link to photos taken on the mountain during Sep/Oct fieldwork. With very little seasonal snowcover due to the drought, we had a rare opportunity to observe glacier margins and ice features. Over the course of a week at the summit, we attended to the automated weather station (AWS), offloaded data from other dataloggers, measured and redrilled ablation stakes, and collected basal-ice samples for dating.
OCT. 2009 PHOTOS

A week at the summit

Just back from fieldwork on the summit glaciers, between 3 & 9 October. Conditions were very dry, allowing us to observe processes un-hidden and un-influenced by snow. Varying weather conditions beautifully demonstrated how sublimation and melting fluctuate in their dominance, even on horizontal surfaces. We came across ablation stakes not seen since 2001 - along with a few surprises buried for perhaps centuries. More photos to follow soon!

-Doug Hardy, UMass Geosciences

Meltwater Runoff

From Karanga camp on Kilimanjaro (4025m), Doug and Mark Jonas made an important observation today via text msg:  "Extensive ribbons of ice were seen below all of the south slope glaciers; flowing water could be seen even without binoculars from ~3km distance, and was clearly heard." They are anxious to see conditions at the summit. [Late October update: listen here to a recording of this distant meltwater runoff (with White-naped Ravens)]

October fieldwork

Yes... a chainsaw! We depart next week for fieldwork at the weather station and on the glaciers. Conditions at the summit are currently very dry, as elsewhere in East Africa where the drought has brought hardships to many (BBC slideshow). With little snowcover, we will be mapping the pattern of albedo and ablation on the glaciers, and collecting ice samples for 14C dating - a collaborative effort with Margit Schwikowski at Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland. Obtaining ice samples and keeping them frozen all the way to Switzerland will not be easy! Cutting them from the glacier will employ a powerful, lightweight battery-powered saw made by Troy-Bilt, with no noise and no emissions. Testing of this newly-available saw has been very encouraging. [Late October update:  listen here to this chainsaw in action, cutting glacier ice!]

The left-hand image illustrates the sampling opportunity these glaciers provide (vertical dimension shown ~30m). Updates on the fieldwork, with photos, will appear here in mid-October.