Global Outlook for Ice & Snow

Glacier area (km 2 )

1959

1996

25

20

15

10

5

0

1 km

1850 1946 1959 1987 1995 2002 0

Figure 6B.19: Glacier changes on Nevado de Santa Isabel, Colombia. This inactive volcano lost about 87 per cent of its ice cover between 1850 and 2002. Source: Data from the World Glacier Monitoring Service, Zurich, Switzerland

Glacier length (m)

1 500

1 250

1 000

750

500

1900

1950

2000

Figure 6B.20: Shrinking Lewis Glacier, Mount Kenya. This tropical glacier retreated by more than 800 m between 1893 and 2004 and lost almost 16 m water equivalent of its thickness between 1979 and 1996. Source: Data from the World Glacier Monitoring Service, Zurich, Switzerland

Kersten glacier on Mt. Kilimanjaro. Photo: Georg Kaser, Tropical Glacier Group, University of Innsbruck

CHAPTER 6B

GLACIERS AND ICE CAPS

143

Photo: Georg Kaser, Tropical Glacier Group, University of Innsbruck