Alarming measurements

“Visit the glacier while you still can”

The Dachstein glacier will become - to exaggerate - a flower meadow. Once again it has receded many meters, and in a few decades it will be history.

(Bild: Markus Schuetz)

"Visit the glacier while you still can" could be a rewrite of the lyrics to "Visit Europe" by the band Geier Sturzflug. With the difference that Europe will exist longer than the glaciers in Austria. New measurements have also revealed a dire picture in Upper Austria, which looks more beautiful than it is.

Statistically, the Hallstatt glacier looks better than in reality. This is because the glacier tongue was torn off after the measurement date and the shortening of 84 meters will only become official in the next glacier report. And until then, there is still a lot of meltwater running down the mountains. All four glaciers on the Dachstein have lost mass and length this year, on average around seven meters. The Great Gosau Glacier (pictured) has been hit the hardest, retreating by 9.1 meters. It is in ninth place among the ice giants that have lost the most length.

Minus 203.5 meters in just one year
At the top of the list is the Pasterze on the Grossglockner, which has become 203.5 meters shorter. According to the Alpine Association, Austria's glaciers lost an average of 23.9 meters, which is the third-highest value in the 133-year history of the Alpine Association's glacier measurements. Just one year earlier, the negative record value of minus 28.7 meters had been set; six years earlier, the loss in length was recorded at 25.2 meters.

There is no more forward movement
In the past ten years, the glaciers have always shrunk, with the smallest decrease of 10.3 meters in 2013/14. "There is no longer a glacier whose nutrient zone would even come close to preserving it," says Gerhard Lieb, who is in charge of the measurements. All the glaciers will be gone before the end of this century.