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“Glaciers are the clinical thermometers of our planet and they show us that the planet has a high fever.” This is the conclusion reached by Climate Protection Advisor Stefan Kaineder (Greens) in view of the demonstrable increase in glacier melt over decades. Today, glaciers around the world are losing 335 billion tons of ice a year. Austria is in the trend. This is demonstrated by current assessments of the Dachstein Glacier measurement data, which experts have been investigating since 2006.
Fourth worst value
This year, ice thickness across the entire 2.6-square-kilometer Dachstein Glacier area has decreased by more than 1.30 meters, says meteorologist Klaus Reingruber of Blue Sky Wetteranalysen, the fourth worst value in the series of measurements for 14 years. That corresponds to a volume of water of 3.8 million cubic meters.
It seemed like a good year for the glacier in summer. “Winter was quite productive in the high mountains in terms of snowfall,” says Reingruber. In spring, a total of nine and a half meters of fresh snow was measured at the Hunerkogel mountain station. Relatively cool weather in May and new snowfall in June would have delayed the melting and melting of the ice.
However, since August, longer periods of above-average temperatures have caused the glacier to quickly melt. “At our measuring station in Sonnblick, it was 3.9 degrees warmer in November than average,” says Reingruber.
According to glacier researcher Kay Helfricht from the Austrian Academy of Sciences, the Dachstein glacier lost a quarter of its volume between 2006 and 2018. In view of the dramatic development, Kaineder is confident that once the health crisis is over , it will take a “political show of force” to tackle the climate crisis.
Article of
Christian ortner
