Lauren Vargo – The Conversation

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

March 9, 2025

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

March 5, 2024

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.

Dave Allen

August 3, 2020

How climate change made the melting of New Zealand’s glaciers 10 times more likely

Lauren Vargo, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington

For the first time, scientists have been able to quantify how much climate change contributed to glacial melt, using more than 40 years of data from New Zealand’s retreating glaciers.

Andrew Lorrey

June 23, 2020

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.

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