Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania (NASA, International Space Station Science, 04/03/07)

Editor's Note: This is an archive image from 2007.

Covered with snow and ice, Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 14 crewmember on the International Space Station.

Image/caption credit: NASA

View original image/caption:
spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-14/html/...

More about space station science:
www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/science/index.html

There's a Flickr group about Space Station Science. Please feel welcome to join! www.flickr.com/groups/stationscience/

Mount Kilimanjaro,Tanzania,international space station,station science,nasa,Crew Earth Observation,

Comments and faves

  1. ★

    pope saint victor, CapitalgCapitals, Stephen .., Dr. Ilia, and 98 other people added this photo to their favorites.

  2. CapitalgCapitals (35 months ago | reply)

    Great Share...!!

  3. ~Dell & 4 Z's~ (35 months ago | reply)

    This is so cool.

  4. Chris Devers (35 months ago | reply)

    Astronaut Photography of Earth - Display Record for this image: ISS014-E-18950.

    Google Map for this location: Latitude: -3.1, Longitude: 37.4 (Negative numbers indicate south for latitude and west for longitude). (See also: satellite view.)

    Wikipedia: Kilimanjaro.

    • • •

    A similar NASA/ISS photo is ISS009-E-13366 from June 2004, which has the following caption:

    Mount Kilimanjaro Closeup:

    Mount Kilimanjaro is a dormant stratovolcano and the highest mountain in Africa. Kibo Summit (5,893 m) at the top of Kilimanjaro is one of the few peaks in Africa to retain glaciers. A comparison image (ISS006-E-45499) is a high oblique photograph taken from the International Space Station in early April 2003. That photograph provides a 3-dimensional perspective on the positions of the glaciers on the upper northwestern and southern flanks of the mountain. This photograph, ISS009-E-13366, taken from the International Space Station in late June 2004, shows large glacier fields (blue-white, with defined edges) on the northwestern and southern slopes of the peak. In this scene, a light layer of snow brightens the dark brown terrain around the glaciers.

    Scientists use ice cores, an automated weather station, computer modeling, and images like these as tools to learn about the past and present activity of Kilimanjaro’s receding glaciers. One atmospheric scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison found clues that link reduced cloud cover to post-1880 decreased water levels in East African lakes. Lake evaporation indicates a decrease in both precipitation and cloudiness around Kilimanjaro. These two images illustrate the changes over time in snow cover at the summit as well as the current extent of the glaciers themselves. Light brown outwash channels from the northwestern flank icefield are particularly evident in the oblique photograph (top). While clear conditions over Kilimanjaro allow for the collection of spectacular images like these, the lack of cloud cover may be one cause for the glaciers’ retreat. The increased sunlight facilitates faster evaporation and less precipitation—thus, the land surface absorbs more incoming sunlight and, as it warms, the ice and snow melts at an accelerated pace.

    Most scientists agree that the glaciers of Mt. Kilimanjaro will be gone by the year 2020, but there is less agreement as to why they are now receding. Climatologists are now studying current weather trends, environmental changes from the late 1800s, and historical records of the mountain climate compared with longer-term climate records at lower elevations. A correct interpretation of the ice core data may help provide an explanation for this glacial recession. The loss of Kilimanjaro’s permanent ice fields will have both climatological and hydrological implications for local populations who depend on access to melt water from the ice fields as a source of fresh water during dry seasons and monsoon failures.

    Additional images of Mt. Kilimanjaro:
    • Kilimanjaro (Landsat 7)
    • Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania (SRTM)
    • Melting Snows of Kilimanjaro (Landsat 5 & 7)
    • Kilimanjaro-The Shining Mountain (Space Shuttle STS 38)
    • Mt. Kilimanjaro’s Receding Glaciers (Space Shuttle STS 97)

    via eol.jsc.nasa.gov/scripts/sseop/photo.pl?missi on=ISS009&am...

  5. Far & Away (On Assigment in Angola, mostly Off) (35 months ago | reply)

    Beautiful !!

  6. miquel comes (35 months ago | reply)

    excelent and beautiful

  7. clyde_sostand (35 months ago | reply)

    Beautiful details nice shot!!

    --
    Seen in my contacts' photos. (?)

  8. .MosaicArt. by .KarenBaker. (35 months ago | reply)

    Wonderful.

  9. Gabriel Fotografía (35 months ago | reply)

    !!!Una foto maravillosa!!!:
    !!!Wonderful photo!!!



  10. dardilrocks (35 months ago | reply)

    sort of resembles the way my head looks from above, here lately, hehehe! Boy, would I love to collect agates around that area!

  11. pauline.kehoe (35 months ago | reply)

    Fantastic capture,wonderful.

  12. andih72 (35 months ago | reply)

    Great image

  13. 17Aℓaina (35 months ago | reply)

    woq great capture

  14. malla_mi (33 months ago | reply)

    insane!

  15. AbuMaia (29 months ago | reply)

    Looks like the face of a bald eagle ^_^

  16. Heart of the Ocean ❧ (29 months ago | reply)

    Absolutely spectacular.

  17. Arts'moonika (Ø) (27 months ago | reply)

    On dirait la tête de l'aigle pêcheur vue de face en imaginant un peu.

  18. TRAVEL4VITALITY (27 months ago | reply)

    amazing

  19. Winston Fadeff Photography. (25 months ago | reply)

    Very cool shot :)

  20. julianjarvis (20 months ago | reply)

    Fantastic! Snow near the Equator!

  21. pastor julius lyimo (16 months ago | reply)

    enjoy the top view of our home Mountain Kilimanjaro

  22. Pius Mahimbi (2 months ago | reply)

    Great image!

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