The next meeting of the New Zealand Snow and Ice Research Group is to be held at Mt Hutt Retreat near Methven from the 7th to 9th February 2018.

The location is at the foot of the Southern Alps with the mighty Rakaia River and its glacial geomorphological marvels a short field trip away.

Student participation is strongly encouraged, with registration (which includes accommodation and most meals) for students just $20. This heavily discounted fee is thanks to the strong support from NIWA, University of Canterbury, Antarctica NZ and Meridian Energy Ltd.

Please download the SIRG2018_FirstCircular, register and submit your abstract now and participate in New Zealand’s most fascinating (and possibly least formal) academic meeting!

In March 1866 Julius Von Haast made a drawing of the debris-covered Ramsay Glacier 300 m below him¹. He was atop Mein’s Knob, a vantage point from which he described the view as “…second to none in New Zealand”.

Drawing made by Haast of the Ramsay Glacier from Mein’s Knob, 18th March 1866

Haast  noted he was standing near glacial moraine remnants which meant that at some previous time the Ramsay glacier must have been 300 m thicker and abutted right up to near the top of Mein’s Knob. He considered this evidence that the Southern Alps had, in the past, been subject to a climate different to what he was experiencing.

From about the same time, New Zealand began a systematic programme of temperature observations. We now know that the climate during Haast’s time was 1^oC cooler than  now².

About 150 years later, Tobias (Toby) Koffman and colleagues³ sampled the quartz from the moraines on Mein’s Knob, and found they had been exposed to the atmosphere for 11 600 years. This is a continuation of amazing work being done to date moraines in the Southern Hemisphere and sort out the global extent of climate variations. Dr Koffman’s group applied a computer model to find what climate was required to enable a glacier to deposit moraines on Mein’s Knob. They found that the temperature would need to be 1^o less than today. The same temperature as during Haast’s time when the glacier was 300 m lower.

For the same temperature, Koffman and Haast have two different sized glaciers. Is that possible? Is it likely? Is there a plausible explanation?
Was the temperature eleven millenium ago the same as it was a century ago?

References
¹Burrows, C.J., 2005. Julius Haast of the Southern Alps. Canterbury University Press, Christchurch.
²Mullan, A.B., Stuart, S.J., Hadfield, M.G., Smith, M.J., 2010. Report on the Review of NIWA’s “Seven-Station” Temperature Series (No. NIWA Information Series No. 78). NIWA, Wellington.
³Koffman, T.N.B., Schaefer, J.M., Putnam, A.E., Denton, G.H., Barrell, D.J.A., Rowan, A.V., Finkel, R.C., Rood, D.H., Schwartz, R., Plummer, M.A., Brocklehurst, S.H., 2017. A beryllium-10 chronology of late-glacial moraines in the upper Rakaia valley, Southern Alps, New Zealand supports Southern-Hemisphere warming during the Younger Dryas. Quaternary Science Reviews 170, 14–25. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2017.06.012

Have you ever noticed how companies sometimes attribute step changes in their finances to “accounting procedure adjustments”.

The same may just be true for New Zealand’s glacier volume.

Measuring glacier volume is very difficult, so estimating it using models is a preferred approach. The choice of model affects the result. A new paper by Daniel Farinotti¹ and no fewer than 36 co-authors (including Brian Anderson from Victoria University of Wellington) investigated this model-choice effect. Farintto and friends collected glacier depth observations from 21 glaciers around the world (including New Zealand,s Brewster and Tasman Glaciers). They then sent out a call to glaciologists to model the depths of those glaciers, but he didn’t give them the observed data. After the depths were modeled, they compared the results to the observations. 17 models were applied to 21 glaciers. None of the models proved superior to the others, and their skill varied widely, though combining them led to estimates that were on average within 10 % of the observed values, which you could argue, is pretty good.

In New Zealand, the total glacier volume has previously been estimated² at 53.3 km³, 63 km³ and 67 km³. The largest of those estimates was prepared using a “shear-stress-based approach”, and is one of the model-types tested in Farinotti’s experiment. For the Tasman glacier, this model type, and the average of all the models in the experiment, underestimated the Tasman’s depth. As the Tasman dominates the glacier ice volume of the Southern Alps, the results of Farinotti’s work indicate we have more ice in New Zealand’s glaciers than previously estimated.

Thanks to Farinotti, an accounting procedure may have just given New Zealand a glacial advance!

Wild New Zealand, a TV series currently showing on NZ’s television 1 on Sunday nights at 8, featured Dr Brian Anderson and New Zealand glaciers.
The episode is available from TVNZ on demand for the next fortnight:
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/ondemand/wild-new-zealand/29-01-2017/series-1-episode-2

“Advances in New Zealand Freshwater Science” has recently been published by the New Zealand Freshwater Sciences Society and the New Zealand Hydrological Society. This book provides an update of freshwater science over the last decade since the publication of “Freshwaters of New Zealand” and includes a chapter on snow and ice research. Copies of the book may be purchased from the NZ Hydrological Society.

The Alpine Processes chapter has attempted to describe all published research since 2004 related to the hydrological aspect of snow and ice. Most of that research came from members of the NZ Snow and Ice Research Group.

Like the earlier “Freshwaters of New Zealand”, this book will no doubt become a standard reference text for New Zealand hydrology.

For six days in February next year Wellington will be overrun with scientists from around the world sharing their knowledge about how the world’s snow and ice is surviving while the climate changes. The second circular for the conference has just been released and details a wide range of session themes, an exceptional selection of guest speakers and no less than three associated field trips. The conference is a joint initiative of the International Glaciological Society, the International Association of Cryospheric Sciences and the Climate and Cryosphere project of the World CLimate Research Programme.

Details of the conference including a link to the conference circular can be obtained through our “meetings” page

The IPCC is to prepare a special report on Climate change and the oceans and the cryosphere. This will be one of just three special reports to be prepared as part of the 6th round of IPCC assessment reports.

Special reports are intended to be prepared as early as possible in the IPCC cycle, ahead of the main assessment and synthesis reports. They provide greater depth of information on their topics than would otherwise be given in the assessment reports.

The Special Report process begins with the selection of a scoping committee which will outline what is to be included in the report. Then authors and reviewers are selected to compile the report.

The report will review all related literature and so will become the definitive review on the topic.

The report will be prepared over the next few years so for any new research to be included in the review it will need to be published as soon as possible.

Dan Zwartz is managing the New Zealand contributions to the Special Reports.

Dan is a Climate Change Analyst with the Ministry for the Environment and is the New Zealand IPCC “Focal Point”.

IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and the oceans and the cryosphere

It was announced on Monday the 25th July 2016 that Dr Trevor Chinn has been awarded the Richardson Medal in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the International Glaciological Society and to glaciology in general.

This is only the tenth time the medal has been awarded since 1993.

David Prior from the University of Otago has anounced that the 2016 annual New Zealand Snow and Ice Research Group meeting will be held in Arrowtown on June the 28th-30th.

David will be putting a flyer together shortly, but please mark it in your calendar and start preparing a presentation of your world leading research!

The symposium will take place at the University of Canterbury, Biology building, 2-3 February 2016 (Tuesday and Wednesday). Please see below the preliminary programme. Attendees will be able to catch a Tuesday morning flight to be in time for the morning tea and the key note presentation. Based on a similar number of registered participants as in previous years the symposium will be registration free (coffee/tea/biscuits for morning/afternoon tea and lunch will be provided). The symposium includes a National Science Challenge workshop in the afternoon of day 2. Also students have an opportunity to showcase their work and we will look to have a session devoted to this.

Attendees need to organize their own accommodation, see suggested options at the very end of this e-mail. February is a busy month for motel bookings in Christchurch, so it will be necessary to book accommodation as early as possible.

Please send me your registration for the symposium by e-mail wolfgang.rack@canterbury.ac.nz  together with the title of your presentation, by 22nd December 2015.

A time table will be sent with a final call for presentations by 18th January 2016.

Please forward to anyone you can think of is interested in the symposium, and any questions to me ( wolfgang.rack@canterbury.ac.nz ) .

All the best and looking forward to meet you early February,

Wolfgang and Alison

Symposium Time Table

Tuesday, 2nd February

10 am: morning tea/coffee, followed by a key note (speaker tbc)
11-12 am: morning presentations
12-1 pm: lunch break
1-2.45 pm: afternoon presentations 1
coffee/tea break
3.15-5 pm: afternoon presentations 2

6 pm: symposium dinner at the Foundry, University of Canterbury (at own expense of attendees, tbc)

Wednesday, 3rd February

8.30 am – 10 am: morning presentations 1 Coffee/tea break
10.30 am – 12 noon: morning presentations 2
12 – 1 pm: lunch break
Afternoon: Deep South National Science Challenge (NSC) workshop
1 – 2.30 pm: kick-off and sea ice roadmap for the NSC and related presentations
2.30 – 3 pm: Coffee/tea break; closing of the symposium
3 – 5 pm: organizational round table discussion of principal, co-, and associate investigators (Gateway Antarctica meeting room, venue tbc)

 Suggested accommodation options

• Asure306 on Riccarton Motel, 306 Riccarton Road: http://www.motel306.co.nz/ – State booking is for UC Sea Ice Symposium and you may get a reduced rate (depending on room availability)
• Academy Motor Lodge, 62 Creyke Road: http://www.academymotorlodge.co.nz/
• Apollo Motel, 288 Riccarton Road: http://www.apollomotel.co.nz/
  There are also a number of other motels on Riccarton Road, close to the University.