The Franz Josef glacier is located in Westland Tai Poutini National Park on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. Together with the Fox Glacier 20 km (12 mi) to the south, it is unique in descending from the Southern Alps to less than 300 metres (980 ft) above sea level.
The glacier was named after Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria by the German explorer, Julius von Haast in 1865.
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