---
title: "The Fires in Australia Are Turning Distant Glaciers Brown"
description: "The fires currently raging in Australia are turning New Zealand's glaciers brown and potentially speeding up their melting."
date: "2020-01-06"
modified: "2020-01-06"
authors:
  - name: "Kristin Houser"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/kristin"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/australia-fires-turning-glaciers-brown"
categories:
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "australian fires"
  - "glaciers"
  - "global warming"
  - "the digest"
---

# The Fires in Australia Are Turning Distant Glaciers Brown

![The fires currently raging in Australia are turning New Zealand's glaciers brown and potentially speeding up their melting.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/australia-fires-turning-distant-glaciers-brown.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: @fabulousmonster via Twitter\</em\>*

## Dust and Ashes

The wildfires currently raging in Australia have already killed more than [half a billion animals](<https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/06/us/australian-fires-by-the-numbers-trnd/index.html>) and [at least 20 people](<https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2020/jan/06/nsw-fires-live-updates-victoria-bushfires-south-australia-fire-sa-australian-bushfire-near-me-rfs-cfa-latest-news-morrison>). And now we know that more than 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) away from the blazes lies another potential victim: New Zealand's glaciers.

Photos and videos [shared on social media](<https://twitter.com/Rachelhatesit/status/1212149468579028993>) show how ash from Australia's fires have turned New Zealand's glaciers a hazy shade of brown.

**"**It is quite common for dust to be transported to New Zealand glaciers, but I would say that the amount of transport right now is pretty phenomenal — I don't think I've ever seen anything like it," Monash University professor Andrew Mackintosh [told *The Guardian*](<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/02/new-zealand-glaciers-turn-brown-from-australian-bushfires-smoke-ash-and-dust>). "It is concerning to me to see so much material being deposited on the glaciers."

https://twitter.com/Rachelhatesit/status/1212151684509519872

## Accelerated Melting

The effect of the ash from Australia extends beyond the look of the glaciers, too.

"If \[the ash\] stays on the surface then it will certainly enhance melt," Mackintosh [told *The Australian*](<https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/the-times/bushfires-ash-from-australia-threatens-nz-glaciers/news-story/cc78bf59db528b33865a7eea740a3541>) in early December. "If fire frequency, ash, and dust transport increase, there is a chance that this will hasten the demise of New Zealand glaciers."

In the month since, the fires have only gotten worse, leading Mackintosh to tell *The Guardian* he predicts glacial melt could increase by 20 to 30 percent this bushfire season — showing how climate change's emerging impact on one part of the world can exacerbate [existing problems](<https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2019/04/new-zealand-s-glaciers-could-disappear-almost-completely-by-2100-scientists.html>) in another.

**READ MORE:** [Australia wildfires: Half a billion animals and plants killed as glaciers turn black](<https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/australia-wildfires-animals-plants-glaciers-sydney-koalas-nsw-a9267316.html>) \[*The Independent*\]

**More on the fires:** *[The Australian Wildfires Are so Bad You Can See Them From Space](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/australian-wildfires-bad-space>)*

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinjhouser>)