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Concept
Franz Josef Glacier
Summary
The Franz Josef Glacier (Kā Roimata o Hine Hukatere; officially Franz Josef Glacier / Kā Roimata o Hine Hukatere) is a temperate maritime glacier in Westland Tai Poutini National Park on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. Together with the Fox Glacier to the south, and a third glacier, it descends from the Southern Alps to less than above sea level.
The area surrounding the two glaciers is part of Te Wahipounamu, a World Heritage Site park. The Waiho River emerges from the glacier terminal of Franz Josef.
The Māori name for the glacier is Kā Roimata o Hine Hukatere, literally: 'The tears of Hine Hukatere'. According to oral tradition, Hine Hukatere loved climbing in the mountains and persuaded her lover Tuawe to climb with her. Tuawe was a less experienced climber than Hine Hukatere but loved to accompany her, until an avalanche swept him from the peaks to his death. Hine Hukatere was broken-hearted and her many, many tears flowed down the mountain. Rangi the Sky Father took pity on her and froze them to form the glacier.
The first European description of one of the West Coast glaciers (believed to be Franz Josef) was made in the log of the ship Mary Louisa in 1859. The glacier was later named after Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria by the German geologist Julius von Haast in 1865.
Following the passage of the Ngāi Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998, the name of the glacier was officially altered to Franz Josef Glacier / Kā Roimata o Hine Hukatere.
The névé or snowfield at the head of Franz Josef Glacier is over above sea level and in area. This wide névé, which is over deep, feeds large amounts of compacted snow into a steep and narrow valley which drops quickly to very low altitudes: the glacier descends to above sea level in just . This combination of factors leads to Franz Josef persisting where most temperate-zone glaciers would have already melted, and allows it to share a valley with temperate rain forest.
Franz Josef Glacier currently terminates from the Tasman Sea.
Official source
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