Barranco Glacier (once known as the Great Barranco Glacier) is near the summit of
Mount Kilimanjaro
Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It has three volcanic cones: Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world: above sea level and ab ...
in
Tanzania
Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...
, on the southwest slope of the peak and is a small remnant of an
icecap
In glaciology, an ice cap is a mass of ice that covers less than of land area (usually covering a highland area). Larger ice masses covering more than are termed ice sheets.
Description
Ice caps are not constrained by topographical features ...
which once crowned the top of Mount Kilimanjaro.
The glacier is situated at an elevation of between .
The Great Barranco Glacier was far larger when first documented in the late 19th century and it along with the now extinct Little Barranco Glacier may have been fed by the
Furtwängler Glacier which is on the top of the mountain. By 2011, Barranco Glacier was reduced to two small disconnected and dormant ice bodies.
See also
*
Retreat of glaciers since 1850
The retreat of glaciers since 1850 affects the availability of fresh water for irrigation and domestic use, mountain recreation, animals and plants that depend on glacier-melt, and, in the longer term, the level of the oceans. Deglaciation occu ...
*
List of glaciers in Africa
References
Glaciers of Tanzania
{{Tanzania-glacier-stub