New Zealand's glaciers are melting. Photo: Claire Concannon / RNZ
New Zealand glaciers have lost the equivalent of over a third of Lake Taupō in volume since 2005, updated official statistics show.
Stats NZ said total glacier ice volumes in Aotearoa New Zealand shrank by 42 percent between 2005 and 2023.
That was a 22 km3 decrease, equal to 37 percent of the volume of Lake Taupō.
The World Meteorological Organization has said that at current rates of melting, many glaciers in western Canada and the United States, Scandinavia, central Europe, the Caucasus and New Zealand "will not survive the 21st century".
"Changes in glacier volumes are important indicators of climate change," Stats NZ environment statistics spokesperson Tehseen Islam said.
Melting glaciers raise sea levels as well as changing rivers flows and hydro dam inflows in the South Island.
Between April 2022 and March 2023, ice volumes dropped 6.5 percent, or 2.1 km3, said Stats NZ.
Stats NZ's latest greenhouse gas emissions update said industry emissions (excluding households) dropped 2.2 percent in the December quarter to their lowest level since the series began in 2010.
The main reason was electricity generators needing to burn less fossil fuels.
By comparison, gross domestic product rose 0.7 percent.
But household emissions increased slightly, and have now been higher than manufacturing emissions for a year, said Stats NZ.
Concerning, but not surprising
Victoria University Antarctic Research Centre glaciologist Lauren Vargo said the statistics showing the rate glaciers were shrinking were concerning, but not surprising.
"I've been doing this work for about nine years monitoring how glaciers in New Zealand are changing and every single year has just been not great for them, which is really dramatic to see in our research, but these numbers show that over a slightly longer time scale.
"Glaciers respond really directly to changes in temperature and in precipitation in New Zealand. We know really with a lot of certainty that rising temperatures from greenhouse gas emissions are what is driving at least a big part of this glacier melting.
"It's concerning from the point of view of glaciers and their importance; as they melt they contribute to sea level rise, natural hazards ... it's also concerning as to what they kind of represent for climate change.
"It's really up to us and what we do with greenhouse gas emissions that will determine what the glaciers do."
- Additional reporting by Anna Sargent
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