The largest glacier in New Zealand which is rapidly melting and disappearing
The Tasman glacier is 23,5 kilometres long and although it has been shrinking considerably since the 90s, it remains the largest glacier in New Zealand. The Glaciers ice stretches 2,5 kilometres wide and 600 metres down.
The lower regions of this glacier are entirely covered in rocks that are carried down and exposed by ablation. The rocks help insulate the ice that remains underneath and aid in slowing down the melting process.
The Terminal Lake at the bottom of the Glacier formed sometime after 1973. Due to the period of rapid melting that began in the ’90s this lake formed. Between 2000 and 2008 the glacier receded another 3700 metres, growing the lake to 7 kilometres wide and 245 metres deep. According to calculations, the glacier will fully disappear into Tasman lake in just 10 to 19 years.
