"Eternal" ice gone

Hallstatt Glacier will not be saved

Provincial Councillor Stefan Kaineder and Environment Minister Leonore Gewessler (both Greens) at the glacier

(Bild: Werner Dedl)

The Hallstatt Glacier can no longer be saved, even in the most optimistic climate scenarios. 800,000 square meters of "eternal" ice have already disappeared and the rate of melting is alarmingly high. Now the risk of rockfall in the area is also increasing sharply.

The fact that the glaciers are melting is not news in itself, but new figures show that the reduction is still very dramatic. The research project "Mass Balance on the Upper Austrian Hallstatt Glacier", co-financed by the province of Upper Austria and Energie AG, has been running for 18 years - with the aim of scientifically observing the decline of the largest glacier in the Dachstein massif and the northern Limestone Alps.

Irretrievably lost
At the beginning of the program, the Hallstatt Glacier still had a mass of 152 million cubic meters - today it is only 96 million. This means that the glacier has lost a third of its original mass. Not only that: 800,000 square meters of perpetual ice have also been irretrievably lost. This also means that the researchers' measurements are becoming increasingly dangerous, as the risk of rockfall is now very high.

This is what the glacier looked like in 2006 . . .

(Bild: Land OÖ)

. . . and like this now

(Bild: Land OÖ)

"Breathtaking speed"
"We can see from the measurement program on the Hallstatt Glacier at what a breathtaking pace the climate crisis is accelerating. It is also clear that the glacier in its current form can no longer be saved," says Provincial Councillor for the Environment Stefan Kaineder during a joint site visit to the glacier with Environment Minister Leonore Gewessler (both Greens).