Rebmann Glacier - Kilimanjaro

Rebmann Glacier is a glacier on Mount Kibo , the highest volcano on Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and the only dormant of the 3 volcanoes on Mt Kilimanjaro (the others are Mount Shira and Mount Mawenza).

The glacier is located near Uhuru Peak , the volcano's highest peak. It is a remnant of the original ice sheet that once completely covered the top of the volcano. Between October 1912 and June 2011, almost 85 percent of the original ice mass disappeared.

The Rebmanngletscher is named after the German missionary Johannes Rebmann. He was the first European to visit Kilimanjaro in 1848 and first reported the snow-capped peak.

When the Kilimanjaro Ice Fields were first explored scientifically in 1912 , the northern ice field was still part of a large sheet of ice that covered the entire summit except for the area around the inner craters . Almost 85 percent of the original ice mass disappeared between October 1912 and June 2011 .

In 1962 the ice sheet split and the Southern Ice Field was formed. In 1975, the remaining ice sheet split a second time into two separate ice fields: the Eastern Ice Field and the Northern Ice Field.
The Northern Ice Field is the largest ice mass on Mount Kilimanjaro, covering 0.95 square kilometers in 2007. In 2011 the northern ice field split in two .

The northern ice field and the other two Kibo ice fields are shrinking more and more every year due to evaporation and sublimation (=ice evaporation). Between 2000 and 2007, the ice thickness decreased by about 190 centimeters per year. Some researchers believe that at the current rate, all of Kibo's ice will disappear by 2040 .

Willem Vandenameele