Travel to New Zealand's Tasman Glacier

The attached pictures feature the Tasman Glacier on New Zealand's South Island, at the southernmost edge of the ice in its slow retreat from Lake Pukaki. The scenic lake remains after the glacier carved it out of the earth. It is only the first of many breathtaking and unearthly natural beauties of the Mt. Cook area that greets the motorist at the approach of the Tasman Glacier.

Mt. Cook, also called Aoraki, and Mt. Tasman, as well as the Tasman Glacier were named for New Zealand's first European discoverers, who sailed along the country's coast in the 1600s, though the interior area around Mt. Cook and the Tasman Glacier was not explored by Europeans until the middle 1800s. Other famous glaciers in New Zealand are the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers.

According to Explore Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, a New Zealand government website (see below), about 2.6 million years ago when the earth experienced the ice ages, glaciers formed in the mountainous regions of the South Island, that moved downhill, moving rock debris moraines as they pushed forward, and leaving lakes behind as they receded.

Glaciers are found on all continents, except Australia. As New Zealand Tourism Online notes (see below), nowhere in the world's temperate zones are glaciers so accessible than in New Zealand. Glaciers cover nearly half the area of the Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park. And they are still moving. Glaciers in New Zealand move up to 200 meters a year as they recede back into the mountains. The Tasman Glacier at present is 27 km long. Around only 15,000 years ago, this New Zealand glacier would have extended all the way to the shores of Lake Pukaki.

Mountain glaciers, such as those that exist at higher elevations like in New Zealand, are particularly sensitive indicators of climate change. This is noted by the Union of Concerned Scientists on its website (see below), which cites T. Chinn's article on New Zealand glacier responses to climate change of the past century, New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics 39, 415-428 (1996) with the assertion that glaciers in the New Zealand Southern Alps have lost 25% of their area over the last 100 years.

The glaciers and snowfields of the Southern Alps of New Zealandpresent excellent opportunities for the study of future climate change.

For the tourist, the chance to see a glacier up close is irresistible, and many companies offer guided tours for trekking on the glaciers, with walks ranging from minutes to hours, to overnight trips. Some tourist companies offer flyovers from planes or helicopters. The Tasman Glacier, or at least this very edge of it depicted in these photos, is accessible on foot in a brief, but hilly hike from the parking area below. A guided tour is not necessary.

New Zealand's Ministry for the Environment posts a website (see below) with information on driving times and what those traveling independently by auto should expect on a trip to the Mt. Cook area and the Tasman Glacier. Driving times, as posted on the website New Zealand Tourism Online (see below) note that a drive from the city of Christchurch to Mt. Cook is about 206 miles, or 331 km, nearly a five-hour drive. It may not look that long on a map, but New Zealand's roads cover hilly or winding terrain, and they are usually only two-lane highways. Fortunately, the stunning scenery all around you makes the trip exciting and inevitably too quick.

Explore Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand: (http://www.teara.govt.nz/NewZealanders/NewZealandPeoples/EuropeanDiscoveryOfNewZealand/9/ENZ-Resources/Standard/4/en).

New Zealand Tourism Online: (http://www.tourism.net.nz/new-zealand/nz/glaciers/)

Union of Concerned Scientists: (http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science/early-warning-signs-of-global-warming-glaciers-melting.html)

Chinn, T. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics 39, 415-428 (1996), as quoted on Union of Concerned Scientists website.

New Zealand's Ministry for the Environment: (http://www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/water/recreation-tourism-written-report-dec04/html/page4.html).

New Zealand Tourism Online: (http://www.tourism.net.nz/new-zealand/about-new-zealand/driving.html).