Which glacier in New Zealand's West Coast is named after an Austrian emperor?

The glacier in New Zealand’s West Coast named after an Austrian emperor is Franz Josef Glacier. It was named in 1865 by German-Austrian geologist Julius von Haast in honour of Franz Joseph I, Emperor of Austria.

Known by the Māori name Kā Roimata o Hine Hukatere, the glacier descends from the Southern Alps toward the West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island. Its valley reaches much lower elevations than many other temperate glaciers, bringing ice unusually close to rainforest and the coast compared with glaciers in colder polar settings.

Franz Josef Glacier is part of Te Wāhipounamu, a UNESCO World Heritage area encompassing major protected landscapes in southwestern New Zealand. Like other mountain glaciers, it advances and retreats in response to changes in snowfall, temperature, and seasonal melt, so its visible terminus is not fixed.

The name can cause confusion because “Franz Josef” refers to the glacier, while Franz Joseph I was the monarch. The nearby Fox Glacier is another major West Coast glacier, but it was not named after the Austrian emperor.