The dramatic loss of Kilimanjaro's ice cover has attracted global attention. The three remaining ice fields on the plateau and the slopes are both shrinking laterally and rapidly thinning. Summit ice cover (areal extent) decreased ?1% per year from 1912 to 1953 and ?2.5% per year from 1989 to 2007. Of the ice cover present in 1912, 85% has disappeared and 26% of that present in 2000 is now gone. From 2000 to 2007 thinning (surface lowering) at the summits of the Northern and Southern Ice Fields was ?1.9 and ?5.1 m, respectively, which based on ice thicknesses at the summit drill sites in 2000 represents a thinning of ?3.6% and ?24%, respectively.