Ice thickness and volume changes across the Southern Alps, New Zealand, from the little ice age to present

Jonathan L Carrivick; William H M James; Michael Grimes; Jenna L Sutherland; Andrew M Lorrey

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-70276-8

Ice thickness and volume changes across the Southern Alps, New Zealand, from the little ice age to present

Sci Rep. 2020 Aug 7;10(1):13392. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-70276-8.

Authors

Jonathan L Carrivick¹, William H M James², Michael Grimes², Jenna L Sutherland², Andrew M Lorrey³

Affiliations

¹ School of Geography and water@leeds, University of Leeds, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds, LS2 9JT, West Yorkshire, UK. j.l.carrivick@leeds.ac.uk.
² School of Geography and water@leeds, University of Leeds, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds, LS2 9JT, West Yorkshire, UK.
³ National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, Auckland, New Zealand.

Abstract

Rapid changes observed today in mountain glaciers need to be put into a longer-term context to understand global sea-level contributions, regional climate-glacier systems and local landscape evolution. In this study we determined volume changes for 400 mountain glaciers across the Southern Alps, New Zealand for three time periods; pre-industrial "Little Ice Age (LIA)" to 1978, 1978 to 2009 and 2009 to 2019. At least 60 km³ ± 12 km³ or between 41 and 62% of the LIA total ice volume has been lost. The rate of mass loss has nearly doubled from - 0.4 m w.e year^-1 during 1,600 to 1978 to - 0.7 m w.e year^-1 at present. In comparison Patagonia has lost just 11% of it's LIA volume. Glacier ice in the Southern Alps has become restricted to higher elevations and to large debris-covered ablation tongues terminating in lakes. The accelerating rate of ice loss reflects regional-specific climate conditions and suggests that peak glacial meltwater production is imminent if not already passed, which has profound implications for water resources and riverine habitats.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't