page_title: South Island
section_title: Glaciers
hierarchical_section_title: South Island / Geography / Natural geographic features / Glaciers
caption_attribution_description: Franz Josef Glacier photographed from the valley floor
context_page_description: The South Island, also officially named Te Waipounamu, is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, and to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean. The South Island covers 150,437 square kilometres, making it the world's 12th-largest island. It has a temperate climate.
  The South Island is shaped by the Southern Alps which run along it from north to south. They include New Zealand's highest peak, Aoraki / Mount Cook at 3,724 metres. The high Kaikoura Ranges lie to the northeast. The east side of the island is home to the Canterbury Plains while the West Coast is famous for its rough coastlines such as Fiordland, a very high proportion of native bush and national parks, and the Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers. The main centres are Nelson, Christchurch, and Dunedin. The economy relies on agriculture and fishing, tourism, and general manufacturing and services.
  As it is 32 percent larger than the North Island, the South Island is sometimes nicknamed the "mainland" of New Zealand.
context_section_description: Most of New Zealand's glaciers are in the South Island. They are generally found in the Southern Alps near the Main Divide.
  An inventory of South Island glaciers during the 1980s indicated there were about 3,155 glaciers with an area of at least one hectare (2.5 acres). About a sixth of these glaciers covered more than 10 hectares. These include the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers on the West Coast, and the Tasman, Hooker, Mueller and Murchison glaciers in the east.
caption: Franz Josef Glacier.
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