New Zealand glaciers turn brown and ‘could melt faster because of Australia’s bushfires’
Fox and Franz Josef glaciers in New Zealand, which have turned brown as a result of Australian bushfire smoke and ash.
Smoke and ash drifting from the Australian bushfires have caused New Zealand’s glaciers to turn caramel brown, with one expert fearing this could increase the risk of them melting faster this year.
A jet stream transporting large amounts of smoke and ash this week from the blazes in Victoria and New South Wales deposited them along the way in New Zealand’s South Island as they traveled east, according to NEWS AGENCY meteorologist Michael Guy.
Pictures and videos taken on New Year’s Day show that the yellow haze had discolored the snowy mountain peaks and glaciers in the Southern Alps.
A photo taken on January 1 shows the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers in New Zealand, which have turned brown as a result of Australian bushfire smoke and ash.
Rey, an Australian woman living in Wellington, snapped some of these photos on Fox and Franz Josef glaciers.
“We took a flight up over Fox and Franz Josef glaciers (from Franz Josef township) and landed on a flat surface not too far from the glaciers, not on a glacier per se. The pilot said he had been up the day before and the snow was white,” Rey, who didn’t want to give her full name, told NEWS AGENCY.
A photo taken on January 1 shows the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers in New Zealand, which have turned brown as a result of Australian bushfire smoke and ash.
“I’m an Aussie living in Wellington NZ on a South Island road trip with my sister who is from rural NSW, so we’ve been following the news closely and feeling pretty devastated.”
Fabulousmonster@Rachelhatesit
· Jan 1, 2020
Near Franz Josef glacier. The “caramelised” snow is caused by dust from the bushfires. It was white yesterday
Fabulousmonster@Rachelhatesit
#AUSTRALIANBUSHFIRES
Satellite pictures on Thursday showed smoke from the fires in New South Wales and Victoria crossing the Tasman Sea and the North Island of New Zealand. New South Wales and Franz Josef glaciers are more than 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) apart.
New Zealand’s former prime minister Helen Clark tweeted that the impact of Australian ash on glaciers “is likely to accelerate melting.”
Helen Clark
✔@HelenClarkNZ
How one country’s tragedy has spillover effects: Australian bushfires have created haze in New Zealand with particular impact on the south of the South Island yesterday & now spreading more widely. Impact of ash on glaciers is likely to accelerate melting: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/the-times/bushfires-ash-from-australia-threatens-nz-glaciers/news-story/cc78bf59db528b33865a7eea740a3541 … https://twitter.com/WeatherWatchNZ/status/1212491582504460289 …
Bushfire ash threatens NZ glaciers
New Zealands retreating southern glaciers are facing a new threat: clouds of orange soot from bushfires in Australia.
✔@WeatherWatchNZ
#Smoke from #Australia is thinning out further today as it now moves over the North Island of #NewZealand (combined with cloud too).
The main plume lies over the North Island for Thursday. A secondary weaker plume is covering a few parts of the South Island.
That’s because of the so-called Albedo effect, Guy explains.
“This is when the whiteness of an object reflects radiation away impacting its temperature,” he continues.
“Thus, areas on the planet that are covered in ice and snow do not absorb the radiation as fast because it reflects it, causing lower temperatures than areas with a lower whiteness value which are quick to absorb the radiation and increase and hold on to the temperatures.”
Guy added that this year, glacier melt may quicken “since the color will be a little darker than true white.”
Miss Roho@MissRoho
This the view from the top of the Tasman Glacier NZ today – whole South island experiencing bushfire clouds. We can actually smell the burning here in Christchurch. Thinking of you guys. #nswbushfire #AustralianFires #AustraliaBurning
People in other parts of New Zealand’s South Island woke up on New Year’s Day to skies turning an eerie yellow, orange and gray from the bushfires.
Megan Bilcock@meganbilcock
South Island, New Year’s Day. Heartbreaking reality of the Australian fires still burning. Skies lit yellow, orange and grey here in NZ this morning, air smelling of burning. #australiafires #australiaburns #savethekoalas #nofilter
In November, travel photographer and blogger Liz Carlson took photos of the glaciers in Mount Aspiring National Park on New Zealand’s South Island turning pinkish-red from dust and particles blown over from Australia’s bushfires.
“Often at the end of summer the glaciers can appear dirty, even gray with all of the snowmelt and bits of black rock on them, but this was the height of spring so it was really bizarre,” she told NEWS AGENCY last month.
While it’s too early to say exactly how the particles will affect the glaciers in New Zealand, scientists have found that forest fires in the Amazon have caused glaciers in the Andes mountains to melt faster, with pollutants such as black carbon and dust lodged in the ice, reducing the glacier’s ability to reflect sunlight.
