Orbital View Of The Southern Alps On New Zealand’s South Island
Southern Alps
NASA
New Zealand contains over 3,000 glaciers, most of which are in the Southern Alps on the South Island.
Since 1890, the glaciers have been retreating, with short periods of small advances. The differences between 1990 (Landsat image from January 12) and 2017 (ASTER image above from January 29) can be seen in the pair of images, that include the Mueller, Hooker and Tasman Glaciers. Notice the larger terminal lakes, the retreat of the ice free of moraine cover, and the higher moraine walls due to ice thinning. The images cover an area of 39 by 46 km, and are located at 43.7 degrees south, 170 degrees east.
Image credit: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Space Systems, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team Uploaded on March 10, 2017
