Ice cores from Greenland, Antarctica, and continental glaciers provide rich sources of information on past climates and the atmospheric conditions that accompanied them. Thompson et al (2002) provide new information extracted from Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania in Central East Africa that represents the only ice core record from the African continent. The ice core reveals information on regional climate not previously seen. Gasse (2002) and Krajick (2002) provide additional perspectives on this research. The disturbing element of the Kilimanjaro record, however, is that global warming is rapidly shrinking the glacier: it has decreased in areal extent by about 80% over the 20th century. And if current trends continue it will disappear, taking with it a treasure trove of climate information, between 2015 and 2020. This is equivalent to burning the only library archives for this kind of climate history of Africa.
Reference
Gasse, F., 2002: Kilimanjaro?s secrets revealed. Science 298, 548-549.
Krajick, K., 2002: Ice man: Lonnie Thompson scales the peaks for science. Science 298, 518-522.
Thompson, L. G., and Co-authors, 2002: Kilimanjaro ice core records: Evidence of Holocene climate change in tropical Africa. Science 298, 589-593.