|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Transcript NARRATOR: Taking a volcano's temperature isn't your everyday science project. KEVIN DOUGHERTY (Geologist): Ow, the soil is hot! NARRATOR: It's an example of the risks involved when science takes place in the field, not the lab. VOLKER LORENZ (Geologist): Can you hold it? Hold it. Even if you burn your fingers... KEVIN DOUGHERTY (Geologist): Thank you... VOLKER LORENZ (Geologist): It doesn't matter. NARRATOR: As shown on PBS'S NOVA, this team had more to contend with than just burned fingers. This volcano happens to be near the top of Africa's Mount Kilimanjaro. VOLKER LORENZ (Geologist): Wow, this is really something. NARRATOR: At almost 20,000 feet high, Kilimanjaro is the world's highest free-standing mountain - so big, its lower slopes are comprised of five distinct ecosystems. Getting to the top was a grueling week-long hike. KEVIN DOUGHERTY (Geologist): We have almost a full moon, we're covered in mist, we can't see where we're going, and at this point, quite honestly, it's very apprehensive and all I want to do is get up the hill. NARRATOR: They braved the climb to better understand why the ice at the mountain's peak has shrunk more than 80 percent in the last century. Is it global warming, or volcanic heat? The fact that the volcano is active provides a clue. KEVIN DOUGHERTY (Geologist): This is very fresh. This is warm as well, very hot." NARRATOR: And while this science project had great rewards... MICHAEL NGATULOWA (Naturalist): Woo hoo! Top of the world!
NARRATOR: ...it seems to confirm that the ice fields Ernest
Hemingway called "as wide as all the world" may, in less than two
decades, be history. I'm Brad Kloza.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
