AL's tears for Kilimanjaro misplaced

A scientific team from the Netherlands has completed its investigation of the ice cap cycles of Mt. Kilimanjaro, and has concluded that changing ice cap levels on the massive African peak are a part of the natural variation of climate in this region, and are not a result of CO2 emissions or any other man made factor.

Publishing in the scientific journal Nature, the ice cap changes were seen to be related to changes in precipitation, which in turn were affected by the southeasterly and northeasterly monsoons generated off the western Indian Ocean, which in turn were strengthened in alternation when the inter-hemispheric insolation gradient was at a maximum. A brief summary is discussed here at Pajama's media.

"The melting and freezing of moisture on top of Kilimanjaro appears to be part of “a natural process of dry and wet periods.” The present melting is not the result of “environmental damage caused by man.”

Professor Damste studied organic biomarker molecules in the sediment record of Lake Challa, near Mount Kilimanjaro, and reconstructed the changes and intensity of precipitation in this part of Africa over the last 25,000 years. They observed an 11,500 year cycle of intense monsoon precipitation.

In the dry period between 12,800 and 11,500 years ago, Kilimanjaro was ice-free.

At the moment, this part of Africa seems to be at the end of a similar dry period, resulting in the disappearance of the famous ice cap."

Once again, it appears AL Gore's emotional response to the world's climate is impressive, but when it comes to the actual science, he is left out in the cold.