You are browsing the archive for New Zealand glacier melt Archives - From a Glacier's Perspective.
February 23, 2018
Mueller Glacier, NZ Terminus Collapse
Mueller Glacier (M) in a Landsat image from 1990 and a Sentinel image from 2018. Red arrow is 1990 terminus, yellow arrow 2018 terminus, blue arrow glacier flow, and pink arrow in 2018 ablation valley cut into glacier. Glaciers of the Southern Alps of New Zealand have been losing ice volume since 1978, with an increasing rate in the last decade (Pelto, 2017). The NIWA glacier monitoring program has noted that volume …
January 14, 2016
Murchison Glacier, New Zealand Rapid Retreat Lake Expands 1990-2015
Murchison Glacier change revealed in Landsat images from 1990 and 2015. The red arrow indicates 1990 terminus location, the yellow arrow indicates 2015 terminus location and the purple arrow indicates upglacier thinning. Murchison Glacier is the second largest in New Zealand. The glacier drains south in the next valley east of Tasman Glacier and terminates in a lake that is rapidly developing as the glacier retreats. The lower 6 km …
November 5, 2015
Balfour Glacier, New Zealand Retreat 1990-2015
Balfour Glacier drains west from Mount Tasman in the Southern Alps of New Zealand. The ablation is a low slope, 8 km long debris covered tongue extending from the terminus near 800 m to 1600 m. The glacier is fed by avalanching off of Mount Tasman to the west, the southern flank of the Fox Range to the north and the northern flank of the Balfour Range to the south. …
November 23, 2012
Douglas Neve Glacier Retreat, New Zealand
The primary portion of the Douglas Glacier was a debris covered valley tongue that is separated from the slopes feeding the terminus reach. The feeder glacier tongues, pink arrows, end on the bedrock slopes above a steep cliff and do not reach the valley glacier below, blue arrows. One section of the glacier, the furthest west portion noted by a pink arrow, the Douglas Neve flows down a steep mountains …
February 22, 2011
Murchison Glacier Retreat Increasing
Murchison Glacier drains southeast from the Mount Cook region, one valley east of Tasman Glacier. The end of the glacier terminates in a lake that is rapidly developing as the glacier retreats. This retreat will become rapid as 2010 imagery indicates other proglacial lakes have now developed 3.5 km above the actual terminus. These lakes are at a higher elevation and may not endure but do help increase ablation, and …
May 2, 2010
Donne Glacier Retreat New Zealand
Donne Glacier from 2003-2012 in Google Earth images. Red arrow is the 2003 terminus and yellow arrow the 2012 terminus. Donne Glacier descends the spectacular east face of Mount Tutoka in southwest New Zealand. This glacier has been undergoing rapid retreat this decade creating a new alpine lake. The National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research (NIWA) conducts an annual survey of the snowline of New Zealand glaciers. In order …
Dean of Academic Affairs at Nichols College and Professor of Environmental Science at Nichols College in Massachusetts since 1989. Glaciologist directing the North Cascade Glacier Climate Project since 1984. This project monitors the mass balance and behavior of more glaciers than any other in North America.