Kilimanjaro snows melting faster

By comparing these with past data, they can calculate how much of Kilimanjaro's ice has vanished. About 82 percent of the ice fields were lost between the time they were first mapped in 1912 and 2000.

In 2002, the OSU team assessed the changes in the mountain's ice cover, comparing aerial photos from 2000 with those 1962. That showed that the tops of the ice fields had lowered by at least 17 metres during the period.

The latest expedition revealed that at three places on the margin of the northern ice field, a 50-metre high wall of ice has retreated between 4.8 and 5 metres since 2002.