Dramatic report

Austria’s glaciers will be history in 40 years

The Rettenbachferner in 2023.

(Bild: OeAV Gletschermessdienst)

The domestic ice giants lost an average of 23.9 meters in the observation period 2022/2023. The Pasterze on the Grossglockner and the Rettenbachferner in Ötztal stand out in a particularly negative light. The prospects are devastating.

The glacier surveyors of the Austrian Alpine Association observed or measured 93 glaciers in Austria for their current glacier report: 92 retreated in the so-called "financial year 2022/23" (mid-August 2022 to mid-October 2023). The Alpine Association announced this alarming result on Friday. The average 23.9 meters that the local glaciers lost in length is not only the third highest value in the 133-year history of the Alpine Association's glacier measurement service, but also in the last seven years.

In general, the "2022/23 financial year" was extraordinarily unfavorable.

Gerhard Lieb, Gletschermessdienst Österreichischer Alpenverein

Pasterze with a negative record
The Pasterze retreated more dramatically than ever before. At 203.5 meters, it has the highest loss in length of any Austrian glacier. Of course, the Rettenbachferner in the Ötztal Alps is already in second place with a loss in length of 127 meters, followed by the Sexegertenferner (minus 93.7 m, also Ötztal Alps). Particularly alarming: the maximum retreat amounts in 2022/23 were significantly higher than those of the previous year. No fewer than nine Tyrolean glaciers are among the ten glaciers with the greatest length losses!

In 2011, the Rettenbachferner was still in a - relatively - better condition.

(Bild: OEaV Gletschermessdienst)

600 million cubic meters of ice melted away
"In general, the 'financial year 2022/23' was extremely unfavorable," said Gerhard Lieb, who is the scientific director of the Glacier Monitoring Service together with Andreas Kellerer-Pirklbauer. "A late but very long and warm melting period in 2023 was once again the main cause of the extremely unfavorable glacier conditions," Lieb explained.

Overall, the loss of mass amounts to around 600 million cubic meters of ice.

Andreas Kellerer-Pirklbauer, Gletschermessdienst Österreichischer Alpenverein

The glaciers not only lost length, but also volume. "Overall, the mass loss amounts to around 600 million cubic meters of ice," Andreas Kellerer-Pirklbauer informed us. "This corresponds to a cube with an edge length of 843 meters - as long as eight soccer pitches." According to the experts, the glaciers only exist because of the ice reserves accumulated in the past.

The Pasterze lost 203.5 meters - more than ever before!

(Bild: ÖAV)

For an ambitious climate policy
Gerhard Lieb called for an ambitious climate policy for Austria. However, the retreat of Austria's glaciers can no longer be stopped. "In around 40 to 45 years, our country will be practically ice-free," the expert paints a frightening picture.

Kommentar

Jetzt muss ein Umdenken her

The countdown is on: 40, 39, 38 etc. years, then the once supposedly eternal ice in the local Alps will have completely disappeared. We have somehow already become accustomed to this frightening prospect of the future, and the horror figures in the latest glacier report are unlikely to knock anyone off their feet or cause them to panic. And quite a few people probably still think that climate change is an invention.

It's quite possible that one or two Tyrolean tourism experts don't think much of climate change and glacier extinction either. In any case, this would explain why glacier ski areas are still being merged, even though the basis for this will soon no longer exist. They are relying on capital that will run dry in the foreseeable future. This can confidently be described as negligent.

There must be new ideas and forward thinking in tourism. Because the hard and unpleasant facts have long been on the table. Unfortunately, the opposite is still happening - almost defiantly - almost everywhere. We will all be presented with the bill.

Time is flying, the countdown is running.