Reconstructed ice thickness fields for Kersten Glacier (KG) and the Northern Icefield (NIF) on Mt. Kilimanjaro for the 2011 glacier extent at 2 m model resolution

Glaciers on Kilimanjaro are unique indicators for climatic changes in the tropical mid-troposphere of Africa. The history of severe glacier area loss raises concerns about an imminent future disappearance. Yet, the remaining ice volume is not well known. We reconstruct thickness maps for 2000 and 2011 for the Northern Icefield (NIF) and Kersten Glacier (KG) that are informed by ground-truth thickness measurements and multi-temporal satellite information. For 2011, we find mean thickness values of 26.6 and 9.3 m, respectively. The existing consensus estimate for global glacier ice thickness shows unrealistically thick values for KG in areas that are meanwhile ice-free.The ice thickness fields show the ice thickness in meters for the 2011 reconstruction (Experiment 3) outlined in the linked publication.