Tanzania is in the final stage to establish a well-equipped snow and ice data center on Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest peak, a senior official said Tuesday.

Agnes Kijazi, Director General of Tanzania Meteorological Agency (TMA), said having a data center will be one step towards answering why ice cap at the peak of Kilimanjaro is melting.

Approximately 85 percent of the glacial ice on Kilimanjaro disappeared between 1912 and 2011, and the remainder could disappear before 2020, according to a 2012 report by NASA.

These are the same glaciers that have survived three periods of abrupt climate change, the most recent of which brought a 300-year drought starting in 2,200 BC.

"We are aware that ice cap on Mount Kilimanjaro is diminishing, but there is no scientific reason as why is it so," she said.

"There are many people who link the snow reduction with climate change. But, I'm sure that once the center will be established at the mountain it will be easier to get the reason and the remarkable measures to address the vice."

Mrisho Gambo, Arusha Regional Commissioner, commended the move by TMA, saying it will also help promote the country's tourism.

"The center at the mountain will make it a modern park that would provide accurate data on weather and climate in and outside Tanzania," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency July 4, 2017)