Franz Josef Glacier under threat, say glaciologist

12 April 2007

Franz Josef Glacier under threat, say glaciologists

The tongue of the iconic Franz Josef Glacier will melt away in the next 100 years, according to new results from a team of glaciologists from Canterbury and Victoria universities.

The researchers used a computer model to test the effect of the predictions from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on the glacier.

“Even with the minimum amount of likely warming over the next century, the glacier will shrink in length by 4 km, and reduce in size to three-quarters of its current volume.” says Dr Brian Anderson from Victoria University.

Dr Anderson says while Franz Josef Glacier is currently advancing, that’s only because it is unusually responsive to short-term climate cycles such as El Niño, which result in lower temperatures and greater snowfall in the Southern Alps over 3-5 year periods.

Dr Wendy Lawson, Associate Professor and Head of Geography at Canterbury University says: “While small glaciers like the Franz Josef contain only a small proportion of the total global ice volume, they are important for sea level change because they respond very quickly to changes in climate”.

The results are also important for the New Zealand economy, especially for tourism and water-resources. “The Franz Josef Glacier is one of the high points of the visit of tens of thousands of New Zealanders and overseas visitors to the West Coast each year” says Dr Lawson.

Dr Brian Anderson and Dr Andrew Mackintosh, who is also at Victoria University, are now expanding the work to look at glacier changes over the entire Southern Alps.

ENDS

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