New Zealand's glaciers are shrinking as ice melts at an accelerating rate, a top government scientist warned Monday after concluding a monitoring expedition in the country's Southern Alps.

We flew to the southern-most glaciers, ones that we’ve not seen since 2018," said Lorrey on the back of this year’s trip.

“One is now two thirds of the size it was on our last visit,” he added.

The institute said that New Zealand had experienced seven of its hottest years on record over the past decade.

Even if this trend was to be reversed, Lorrey said that many glaciers were too far gone to be saved.

“Even if we got a few cooler seasons, they wouldn’t be enough to undo the damage that’s already been done,” he said.

“That’s how stark it is, and it’s not just happening in New Zealand but all over the world.”

  • eagleeyedtiger@lemmy.nzEnglish
    9·
    8 months ago

    I think at this point we can assume anything climate change related is getting worse faster than we previously thought, unfortunately.

    • Dr Jekell@lemmy.worldEnglish
      6·
      8 months ago

      From what I understand is that the warming isn’t linear but exponential and we are already at the point of no return well ahead of predictions.

      The world we are leaving for the next generations is going to be a hot drought ridden wasteland because companies and governments for decades have been polluting and destroying the environment in the endless quest for money with basically no repercussions.

      Companies have been allowed to dump toxic waste into the ground then walk away from it leaving the tax payers to fund the cleanup.

      This is happening because of greed.