Dhe glaciers in the Eastern Alps receded more sharply last year than at any time since systematic observations began in 1891. According to the latest glacier report from the Austrian Alpine Association (ÖAV), which was presented in Innsbruck on Friday, a massive deglaciation of the Austrian Alps is underway .
According to this, the glaciers in Austria retreated by more than 28 meters on average in the 2021/22 measurement year. In the same period of the previous year, the retreat was eleven meters on average. A total of 89 glaciers are observed and 78 measured in twelve Austrian mountain groups by the ÖAV glacier measurement service.
In the observation period from October 2021 to September 2022, the Schlatenkees in the Venice Group in East Tyrol lost the most length at 89.5 meters. On the Großglockner (3798 meters) on the Pasterze, the longest glacier in the Eastern Alps, a volume of 14.7 million cubic meters of ice melted on the glacier tongue, which corresponds to a cube with an edge length of 245 meters. While the ÖAV’s glacier knives have always recorded glaciers that have advanced or at least stagnated in length, all of the 89 glaciers observed retreated in 2021/22.
The glaciers are also collapsing, sections of rock are becoming free, and more and more debris is being deposited on the glaciers. In addition, lakes form in the foreland of the glacier. The flow rate of the ice also decreases sharply.
The current winter was also very dry
According to the heads of the ÖAV glacier measurement service, the winter of 2021/22 was too warm. There has been too little rainfall for six months in a row. In addition, in March 2022, Saharan dust increased energy absorption, which caused the snow cover to melt particularly quickly. As early as May, the snow had started to melt away from the glaciers, whereas in previous years they only became snow-free two to three months later or, at best, not at all.
The future prospects are not very encouraging: the current winter was also very dry. In the forecasts, the ÖAV glacier surveyors assume that there will be no more glaciers in Austria in 50 years at the latest.
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