The top of mount Kilimanjaro, the tallest free-standing mountains of the planet, by 2060 can remain without ice, experts say. In the period between 1912 and 2011 ice mass at an altitude of 5900 meters above sea level on top of a dormant volcano in Tanzania decreased by 85 percent, said the researchers from Earth Observatory NASA.

Kimberly Casey (Kimberly Casey), a glaciologist from the Space flight centre Goddard Space Agency NASA, who visited the volcano at the beginning of this year, also noticed that the ice-field in the Northern part of Kilimanjaro separated.

A hole in the glacier appeared and began to grow since the 1970's, but this year the glacier for the first time was divided into 2 parts, the researchers said. "We had the opportunity to go on foot on the ground or mountain Biking in the area cracks", said Dr. Casey.
Glacier Africa distress

Scientists warn that now the question is not, will lose if Kilimanjaro its glacier, but when it will happen. Scientists estimate the time of the disappearance of ice in different ways, but most of them are inclined to the opinion that this will happen already by 2060.

Although mount Kilimanjaro is located in the tropics, dry and cold air on top of the mountain is possible to maintain a large mass of ice during the last 10 thousand years, and the ice is fully covered its crater. Studies of the ice core samples show that the ice fields of Kilimanjaro passed through many warm seasons, droughts and periods of abrupt climate change.

Due to the fact that global temperatures are rising, this contributes to the fact that Kilimanjaro is losing ice, but there are many other factors. The dry weather conditions of the region, for example, leave the mountain without fresh snow, which is necessary for the formation of the ice layer. More than dry air also reduces the chance of allowing solar energy to melt more ice.