Franz Josef Glacier rapidly retreating

Franz Josef Glacier is now smaller than at any time since measurements of the ice began.

Glaciologist Dr Brian Anderson, of Ross, has released the latest figures showing the extent of glacier retreat.

Many West Coasters remember touching the ice, which for many years terminated close to the car park.

However, the glacier is now several kilometres further up the valley.

"Franz Josef Glacier is continuing its rapid retreat, and is smaller than any time since measurements started," Dr Anderson said yesterday.

Between March 2023 and February this year, it has shrunk 170m, and 1.26km in the past decade.

The glacier is now almost 4km shorter than when it was first mapped in 1893, and 2.2km shorter than its most recent peak, in 1999.

"The continuing retreat is a result of a number of record or near record high annual temperatures in the last decade, with the glaciers being particularly sensitive to summer temperatures, and heavily influenced by the series of spring and summertime marine heatwaves in the Tasman Sea," Dr Anderson said.

Franz Josef Glacier has the longest and best record of length measurement of all glaciers in the Southern Hemisphere.

Gray Eatwell farmed at Franz Josef in the 1980s and early 1990s, during the last great ice advance."When we were living in Franz, the glacier was moving forward at a hell of a rate … you could see the glacier quite clearly from the bridge. Then it retreated just as fast as it came forward."

Westland district councillor Ashley Cassin said no one shied away from the story of glacial retreat.

"But they (Fox and Franz) are still there and a big part of the brand for Westland, glacier country and New Zealand."

Speaking to the West Coast Conservation Board last year, Dr Anderson said there had been a dramatic "full-speed retreat" from 2017.

Over about 30 years, some West Coast glaciers, such as the Victoria, had either retreated a long way "or have just gone".

Dr Anderson said a crucial question for Franz Josef was always if there was enough ice moving down from the top to make up for the melt at the bottom and, over time, it had always advanced.

But what was happening now was marked by more dynamic effects over short periods, such as the recent 170m retreat.