Excerpt from Across East African Glaciers: An Account of the First Ascent of Kilimanjaro In the matter of geographical exploration, which may be said to constitute the groundwork of the successful development of all countries, German East Africa has not hitherto shared the advantages enjoyed by our colonies on the western side of the continent. There, and more especially in our Protectorate of the Cameroons, the work of geographical research has been systematically carried out under Government supervision and at Government expense, whereas the exploration and exploitation of East Africa have been left entirely to the more limited resources of commercial companies. In all the expeditions which have penetrated the region since the first delimitation of the various spheres of interest, the interests of Geography and of Science in general have been of secondary importance to the making of treaties and the establishment of stations. It seemed to me, therefore, that, since Government showed no signs of moving in the matter, the work of geographical research in East Africa must be taken up by private individuals, I resolved to devote myself and my means to it forthwith; and in the course of three expeditions I have done my best to make known the districts geographically the most interesting and colonially the most valuable. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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The earth’s cryosphere, which includes snow, glaciers, ice caps, ice sheets, ice shelves, sea ice, river and lake ice, and permafrost, contains about 75% of the earth’s fresh water. It exists at almost all latitudes, from the tropics to the poles, and plays a vital role in controlling the global climate system. It also provides direct visible evidence of the effect of climate change, and, therefore, requires proper understanding of its complex dynamics. This encyclopedia mainly focuses on the various aspects of snow, ice and glaciers, but also covers other cryospheric branches, and provides up-to-date information and basic concepts on relevant topics. It includes alphabetically arranged and professionally written, comprehensive and authoritative academic articles by well-known international experts in individual fields. The encyclopedia contains a broad spectrum of topics, ranging from the atmospheric processes responsible for snow formation; transformation of snow to ice and changes in their properties; classification of ice and glaciers and their worldwide distribution; glaciation and ice ages; glacier dynamics; glacier surface and subsurface characteristics; geomorphic processes and landscape formation; hydrology and sedimentary systems; permafrost degradation; hazards caused by cryospheric changes; and trends of glacier retreat on the global scale along with the impact of climate change. This book can serve as a source of reference at the undergraduate and graduate level and help to better understand snow, ice and glaciers. It will also be an indispensable tool containing specialized literature for geologists, geographers, climatologists, hydrologists, and water resources engineers; as well as for those who are engaged in the practice of agricultural and civil engineering, earth sciences, environmental sciences and engineering, ecosystem management, and other relevant subjects.