The Southern Alps in New Zealand are the last icy region to be devastated by global warming.
A study finds that the mountains have lost up to 62 percent of their glaciers since the end of the Little Ice Age, about 400 years ago.
According to the study, this equates to a maximum ice loss of 73 square kilometers (30 square kilometers), an area half the size of Liechtenstein.
In contrast, Patagonia, which is home to the largest ice body in the southern hemisphere outside Antarctica, has seen just 11 percent of its Little Ice Age volume disappear.
The Southern Alps of New Zealand are best known for being the set of many scenes from the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit movies.
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Pictured, the Lyell Glacier in 1866 by Meins Knob by Julius Haast. A study finds that the Southern Alps have lost up to 62 percent of their glaciers since the end of the Little Ice Age, about 400 years ago
Pictured, the Lyell Glacier as seen in 2018. The Southern Alps of New Zealand are best known for the set for the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit movies
The Southern Alps are the highest mountain range in Australasia, with the peak of Mount Cook at 12,218ft above sea level.
The study analyzed volume changes in the Southern Alps for three periods: 1600 to 1978, 1978 to 2009 and 2009 to 2019.
Data were collected using computer simulations, physical markings and historical records.
Comparison between the decades shows that ice loss has increased twice since the Little Ice Age, with a rapid increase in the last 40 years.
Up to 17 percent of the ice that was on the mountains during the Little Ice Age was lost between 1978 and 2019 alone.
In 2019, only 12 percent of the ice mass remained in what was previously part of the low altitude of the Little Ice Age glacier region.
The Southern Alps (pictured) are the highest mountain range in Australasia, with the peak of Mount Cook at 12,218ft above sea level. The study analyzed volume changes in the Southern Alps for three periods: 1600 to 1978, 1978 to 2009 and 2009 to 2019
Up to 17 percent of the ice that was on the mountains during the Little Ice Age was lost between 1978 and 2019 alone. In 2019, only 12 percent of the ice mass remained in what was once part of the low altitude of the Little Ice Age Glacier Region.
The Southern Alps stretch more than 300 miles across New Zealand and it is the highest mountain range in Australasia, with the summit of Mount Cook at 12,218ft above sea level
Lead author Dr Jonathan Carrivick, of the University of Leeds, said: ‘These findings quantify a trend in New Zealand’s ice loss.
‘The acceleration in the rate of ice mass loss can only be reduced, because not only climate, but also other local effects become more, such as more debris rising on glacier surfaces and lakes swell at the bottom of glaciers , and melt melts. ‘
The Southern Alps were chosen by Sir Peter Jackson as the location for his Oscar-winning Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies because of his spectacular glaciers.
Dr Carrivick said: ‘Our results suggest that the Southern Alps are probably all the time for’ peak water ‘as the tipping point of glacier melting.
‘Looking ahead, plans should be made to reduce the decreased run-off to glacier-fed rivers, as this will affect local water availability, landscape stability and aquatic ecosystems.’
Climate change has had a major impact on ice loss around the world. Local communities depend on them as sources of fresh water, hydropower and irrigation.
What’s more, mountain glaciers and glaciers are melting today for a quarter of global sea level rise.
The important changes have consequences for this – together with regional climate glacier systems and local landscape evolution.
Co-author Dr Andrew Lorrey, of the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, Auckland, said: ‘The longer-term ice volume decline, increasing snow lines, and rapid disintegration of glaciers across the Southern Alps that we have observed is alarming.
‘Photographic evidence that has been regularly collected since the late 1970s shows that the situation has become dramatic since 2010.
‘Our findings provide a conservative baseline for rates of southern Alps ice volume change since pre-industrial times.
‘They agree with paleo-climate reconstructions, early historical evidence and instrumental records showing that our ice is shrinking from a warm climate.’
Earlier this week, it was reported that the largest ice rink in Canada had collapsed.
The Milne Ice Shelf is located on the edge of the island of Ellesmere, in the sparsely populated northern Canadian territory of Nunavut.
An ice island broke off in the Arctic Ocean, which is 79 square kilometers (30 square kilometers) in size, larger than Manhattan.
Ellesmere also lost its two ice caps from St. Louis this summer. Patrick Bay.
‘We saw them go, like someone with terminal cancer. It was just a matter of time, ‘said Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) in Boulder, Colorado.
Serreze and other NSIDC scientists had published a 2017 study predicting that the icebergs would likely disappear within five years.
After all, the ice caps were formed several centuries ago.
The last remaining intact ice sheet of Canada has collapsed, causing an enormous piece of ice 79 square miles (30 square miles) in size to be thrown away. Pictured, satellite image shows the piece that has been removed marked with a red butt
Ellesmere also lost its two ice caps from St. Louis this summer. Patrick Bay. Images, images taken by NASA in 2015 and 2020, show how the polar ice caps have disappeared in half a decade due to global warming. Pictured, one of the caps in 2015 (left) in the same location on July 14, 2020 (right)
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