NZ's 12 Biggest Glaciers Melting Fast; Unlikely To Regain Former Mass w/o "Extraordinary" Cooling

[hatrack]

New Zealand's glaciers are shrinking and 12 of the largest in the Southern Alps are unlikely to return to their earlier lengths without extraordinary cooling of the climate.

Research released by the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) shows the volume of ice in the Southern Alps has reduced by about 5.8 cubic km - almost 11 per cent - in the past 20 years.

Niwa says more than 90 per cent of this loss is from 12 of the largest glaciers in response to rising temperatures over the 20th century.

It says the overall shrinkage is despite almost no change in the position of the "End of Summer Snowline" at the top of the Southern Alps glaciers recorded in Niwa's latest aerial survey. The shrinkage is occurring further down on the trunks of the bigger glaciers which have been lowering for more than a century.

EDIT

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=326066

[nitpicker]

1. They were already retreating over 20 years ago

In the mid-1980s, I took a trip to New Zealand and Australia, and even then the Franz Josef glacier had noticeably retreated.