| Garden of Eden Ice Plateau | |
|---|---|
 Aerial view of the Garden of Eden Ice Plateau | |
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| Type | Ice field |
| Location | Adams Range, Southern Alps / Kā Tiritiri o te Moana |
| Coordinates | 43°19′30″S 170°40′57″E / 43.3250°S 170.6825°E |
| Length | 9 km (5.6 mi) |
| Width | 1 km (0.62 mi) |
| Highest elevation | 2,300 m (7,500 ft) |
| Lowest elevation | 1,800 m (5,900 ft) |
| Status | Declining[1] |
The Garden of Eden Ice Plateau is a large ice field on the western side of New Zealand's Southern Alps / Kā Tiritiri o te Moana. At over 9 km (5.6 mi) long, the Garden of Eden is one of the largest ice fields in New Zealand, along with the equally-sized Garden of Allah Ice Field which sits just to the north.[2] The ice field is one of many geographic features in the area between the main divide of the Southern Alps and the Adams Range which share biblical names, a convention first established by the earliest explorers to the area.[3] The Garden's remote location and difficult conditions make research difficult, especially with restrictions on helicopter landings imposed through the designation of the area as Adams Wilderness Area in 2003.[1][2] Despite this, the ice plateau has been a popular destination for tramping groups for over 80 years, with access routes from both coasts and easily reachable areas once on the plateau itself.[4]
The ice plateau is part of a network of interconnected glaciers throughout the Adams Wilderness Area, with several distributary glaciers flowing downhill from the main ice field. These glaciers in turn feed the headwaters of several rivers in the South Island, including the Perth, Adams, Barlow, and Clyde.[5]
- ^ a b Harvie, Will (20 October 2018). "Climate change hits Gardens of Eden and Allah". Stuff. Archived from the original on 2 January 2023. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
- ^ a b Dowson, Angus J.; Sirguey, Pascal; Cullen, Nicolas J. (17 October 2020). "Variability in glacier albedo and links to annual mass balance for the gardens of Eden and Allah, Southern Alps, New Zealand". The Cryosphere. 14 (10): 3425–3448. Bibcode:2020TCry...14.3425D. doi:10.5194/tc-14-3425-2020. S2CID 236888062.
- ^ "Place name detail: Garden of Eden Ice Plateau". New Zealand Gazetteer. New Zealand Geographic Board. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
- ^ "Garden of Eden Ice Plateau". climbnz.org.nz. Archived from the original on 2 January 2023. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
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