Tasman Glacier is melting. Climate change?
During the depths of the cold period before Europeans arrived in New Zealand – the Little Ice Age – it has been estimated that there were 170 cubic kilometres of glacial ice on New Zealand mountains and filling the Alpine valleys. By 1977, climate warming had melted all but 54 km3 of that ice, and by 2012 another 30% had melted, leaving a rapidly diminishing rump of 37.6 km3 of ice. Warming of about 1.5ºC has been enough to decimate our ice fields, and the warming we expect in the coming century is likely to commit us to losing the lot. A few small glaciers may still cling to the highest of the Southern Alps, but the ice that so impressed the first European explorers of the South Island will be irretrievably lost
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posted by Unknown @ 12:00 AM
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