Cell phone footage has captured the aftermath of a significant piece of Aoraki/Mt Cook's Tasman Glacier as it broke away, causing a tidal surge up to two metres high on a lake below.
This event is known as glacial calving.
Glacial caving happens once or twice every two years on the Tasman Glacier, and is caused by glacial ice above the water melting, putting pressure on the ice that's still in the water underneath.
Glacier guide Charlie Hobbs from Southern Alps Guiding told 1 NEWS that the scale of the calving incident was jaw-dropping, and more significant than others he'd seen before.
A south-east wind pattern kept the ice chunks in the northern section of the lake, but they are expected to start scattering all over the lake when the winds turn nor-west.
Southern Alps Guiding believes the ice crashing caused a tidal surge of up to two metres high, smashing a nearby jetty and lifting a boat trailer upside down onto another trailer.
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