Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa has lost 82 percent of its snow-topped glacier since 1912. Scientist estimate that if current trends continue, this 12,000 year old glacier on top of Kilimanjaro could be completely gone by the year 2020. It is not clear whether this melting of the snows of Kilimanjaro is a direct result of global warming or the indirect result of climate change causing less moisture in the tropics due to global warming. Which ever the cause, the melting of the snows atop Mt. Kilimanjaro indicates a dual trend of temperature rise and less moisture in the tropics. While the result is more noticeable for the glacier atop Mt. Kilimanjaro, what might be more significant on the adverse effects such warming and less moisture in the tropics could have on even larger eco-systems such as the Amazon rain forest. As the larger eco-systems are affected, this could have the feed-back result of triggering even more global warming and climate change.
Some of the most dramatic evidence of global warming and climate change can be viewed in Glacier National Park in the United States and Canada. When Glacier National Park was created in 1910, it had 150 glaciers. Today, it has only 30, many which are significantly reduced in size. 
According to the International Panel On Climate Change (IPCC), the glaciers of the Himalayan Mountains are melting rapidly and could be gone completely by 2035. They have also stated that the rate of melting is increasing. This is significant because, as shown in the second photograph above, it is the snow melting of the Himalayan Mountains that provides the fresh water for much of Asia, including such major rivers as the Ganges in India.
Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa has lost 82 percent of its snow-topped glacier since 1912. Scientist estimate that if current trends continue, this 12,000 year old glacier on top of Kilimanjaro could be completely gone by the year 2020. It is not clear whether this melting of the snows of Kilimanjaro is a direct result of global warming or the indirect result of climate change causing less moisture in the tropics due to global warming. Which ever the cause, the melting of the snows atop Mt. Kilimanjaro indicates a dual trend of temperature rise and less moisture in the tropics. While the result is more noticeable for the glacier atop Mt. Kilimanjaro, what might be more significant on the adverse effects such warming and less moisture in the tropics could have on even larger eco-systems such as the Amazon rain forest. As the larger eco-systems are affected, this could have the feed-back result of triggering even more global warming and climate change.
