New Zealand has just experienced its hottest January on record, and many of the South Island’s glaciers will have been decimated.
Climate and environmental applications principal scientist and survey leader Dr Andrew Lorrey said at the end of every summer, the snowline altitude of up to 50 glaciers across the South Island, was recorded using specialised cameras from a light aircraft.
Thousands of photos were taken from different angles to build 3-D models of glaciers that could be compared year on year, to give an accurate depiction of how much of the previous winter's snow remained to contribute to long-term glacial ice accumulation.
The information gathered over the past four decades had produced a unique and incredibly valuable data set that provided an independent measure of how climate change and variability are affecting New Zealand's water resources.
"Based on the summer so far, we’re expecting things to be pretty grim, to be honest.
"We’ve had a succession of exceptionally warm years in the last decade.
" All those years similar to this one, have seen very high snowlines and increased melts and ablation of glaciers.
"It’s very concerning.
"I’m anticipating it’s going to be a bad year for the glaciers."
Once the survey was completed, Niwa would know where this year ranked in terms of damage, meaning loss of ice volume, he said.
"If it’s anything to go by, from looking at previous years and the relative temperatures that we’ve had, it’s going to be right up there."
Dr Lorrey said if things kept going the way they were, it was "not going to be pretty".
"We would expect to not have about 20%-30% of the 50 glaciers that we’ve been monitoring, in 10 years’ time.
"We know what’s driving it. It’s not a secret. It’s warming temperatures, and we’re contributing to it."
Results of the 2022 survey were expected to be released mid-year, he said.
