Regular readers of my posts know about my interest in glaciers. And we all know they are becoming a rare species. The Franz Josef Glacier located on the west side of New Zealand’s Southern Alps is a very particular one. This glaicer still has the ability to grow – and does so from time to time.
The picuture above shows the view from the glacier towards the Tasman Sea. I took this photo at 1’135 m.a.s.l. – so this Glacier is not very high up. The abililty to grow comes from the enormous rainfall in the area which is ten time higher compared to the east side of the Alps. The warm and humid air from the Tasman sea rises up while the high mountains cool it down so that significant amounts of snow feed the glacier. The steep mountain leads to a very rapid flow down the valley (50 cm per day!) so that the glacier can rapidly grow or shrink.
The following photos are from a hike on the glacier.
Peaking from a crevasse …
Geologically this has been one of the most fascinating tours I have ever done. The densitiy of warm sea, rain forrest, alpine mountains and glaciers in that area is probably unique on earth.
Interested in more glacier photos? Another still growing Glacier is the Perito Moreno Glaicer in Chile. A post on the Patagonian glaciers you can find here. Posts about Glaciers in Iceland you can find here, here and here. Post about Glaicers in the European Alps you can find here, here and here. Or just select the category “Ice” on the main page …
structures & shapes 