Andrew Lorrey

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Brewster Glacier is thinning and retreating because of extremely low retention of winter snow and high summer melt rates. Lauren Vargo/Victoria University of Wellington

NZ’s glaciers have already lost nearly a third of their ice – as more vanishes, landscapes and lives change

Shaun Eaves, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington; Andrew Lorrey, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA); Brian Anderson, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington; Heather Purdie, University of Canterbury, and Lauren Vargo, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington

Snow and ice loss warms the land surface and air, setting off a feedback loop of further ice loss. This destabilises the landscape, with potentially hazardous impacts.
Freshly exposed bedrock at the terminus of Brewster Glacier in March 2023. Andrew Lorrey

Frozen in time: old paintings and new photographs reveal some NZ glaciers may soon be extinct

Andrew Lorrey, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA); George Hook, Canterbury Museum; Lauren Vargo, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington, and Shaun Eaves, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington

An estimated 13 trillion litres of ice has already been lost from glaciers in New Zealand’s Southern Alps since 1978. Several are now approaching extinction.
@DLorrey, NIWA

The Zealandia Switch drove rapid global ice retreat 18,000 years ago. Has it switched to a new level?

Andrew Lorrey, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA); Aaron Putnam, University of Maine; David Barrell, GNS Science; George Denton, University of Maine, and Joellen Russell, University of Arizona

Rocks deposited by vanishing glaciers in the Southern Alps thousands of years ago hold climate clues about the past, painting a bleak picture about the long-term survival of alpine ice in New Zealand.
Photobank.kiev.ua/Shutterstock

Storm warning: a new long‑range tropical cyclone outlook is set to reduce disaster risk for Pacific Island communities

Andrew Magee, University of Newcastle; Andrew Lorrey, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), and Anthony Kiem, University of Newcastle

Tropical cyclones account for almost four in five natural disasters across Pacific Island nations. But a new forecasting tool now gives up to four months warning for the upcoming cyclone season.
Andrew Lorrey

Why long‑term environmental observations are crucial for New Zealand’s water security challenges

Andrew Lorrey, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA); Ben Noll, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), and Lauren Vargo, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington

Auckland’s extreme drought and the rapid retreat of glaciers in the Southern Alps both highlight how important long-term observations are for water management policy and planning.
Small aircraft carry scientists high above the Southern Alps to survey glacier changes. Hamish McCormick/NIWA

A bird’s eye view of New Zealand’s changing glaciers

Andrew Lorrey, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA); Andrew Mackintosh, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington, and Brian Anderson, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington

Forty years of continuous end-of-summer snowline monitoring of New Zealand’s glaciers brings the issue of human-induced climate change into tight focus.

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