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Location:
Oceania,
New Zealand, Fox Glacier
Category:
Landscape cam
Description:
View of Aoraki Mount Cook and Mount
Tasman taken from the Fox Glacier
Location Information:
The
Fox Glacier is a 13 km long glacier
located in Westland National Park on
the West Coast of New Zealand's
South Island. It was named in 1872
after a visit by the then Prime
Minister of New Zealand, Sir William
Fox
Fed by
four alpine glaciers, Fox Glacier
falls 2,600m on its 13km journey
from the Southern Alps down to the
coast, with it having the
distinction of being one of the few
glaciers to end among lush
rainforest only 300 metres above sea
level. Although retreating
throughout most of the last 100
years, it has been advancing since
1985. In 2006 the average rate of
advance was about a metre a week. In
January 2009, the terminal face of
the glacier was still advancing and
had vertical or overhanging faces
which were continually collapsing.
The outflow of the glacier forms the
Fox River. During the last ice age,
its ice reached beyond the present
coastline, and the glacier left
behind many moraines during its
retreat. Lake Matheson formed as a
kettle lake within one of these
Local
Weather:
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