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. 2020 Aug 7;10(1):13392.
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

Jonathan L Carrivick  1 , William H M James  2 , Michael Grimes  2 , Jenna L Sutherland  2 , Andrew M Lorrey  3
Affiliations

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

Jonathan L Carrivick et al. Sci Rep. .

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.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Sites across the Southern Alps, New Zealand where glacier moraines have been dated to the LIA by several authors. Dates attributed to the LIA are detailed in Table SI 1.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Example from upper Rakaia region of LIA glacier outlines derived from identification of moraines and trimlines as visible on a 8 m resolution digital elevation model (A) and high resolution satellite imagery (B).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Example from Mt Cook region of surface lowering computed between a LIA ice surface and the contemporary DEM. Note timing of LIA was spatially-variable and chronologically uncertain across the Southern Alps.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Volume and centennial rate of ice volume change for LIA scenarios considered in this study, compared with modern volume and rates of change for the Southern Alps, New Zealand.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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