Mt Cook: An Icy recession
Glacial recession may be a worldwide phenomenon but New Zealand’s ice retreats are the fastest and thus most alarming. MEENAKSHI RAO reports about the worrying ice dwindle from the Aoraki/Mt Cook region that houses the island nation’s largest glacier, which is thinning down fast enough to vanish by 2100 Deep turquoise, still and mirror clean, this 7-km-long wonder lake adjoining the grime covered face of the Tasman Glacier is breathtakingly beautiful, what with some blue, some white, some small, some big icebergs dotting its ethereal expanse. You feel blessed to be floating over its icy waters, surrounded by imposing peaks of the stunning Aoraki/Mt Cook region. But wait! This celestial Tasman Lake is not good news. In 1973, it was not even a puddle at the foot of the mighty Tasman Glacier. Today, in 2017, it is more than 7 km long, 2 km wide and carries the depth of the nearby river-fed, 18-km-long Pukaki Lake. The fast expanding lake is the direct result of New ...