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All but two of Austria’s 96 glaciers have retreated over the last two years, monitors in the Alpine country reported today (13 March), warning the “dramatic development” highlights the impact of climate change.
The latest report from the Austrian Alpine Club shows the Alpeiner Ferner in the western Tyrol region and Stubacher Sonnblickkees in Salzburg to the east are facing the greatest loss, each with a retreat of more than 100 metres. The average retreat was more than 20 metres.
“The disintegration of the glacier tongue is also progressing at the Pasterze, Austria’s largest glacier, making the consequences of climate change visible,” the club says in the report, which covers 2024 and 2025.
The report adds that the long-term trend shows that glaciers in Austria continue to “shrink significantly” in length, area and volume.
The impact of Austria’s shrinking glaciers
The retreat of glaciers in Europe has vast implications for drinking water, power generation, agriculture, infrastructure, recreational activities, the Alpine landscape and more.
Neighbouring Switzerland, which is home to the most glaciers in Europe, has noted a similar retreat in its glaciers in recent years, a trend that has been reported around the world.
Since 2015, glaciologists say Switzerland’s glaciers have shrunk by a quarter, with more than 1,000 small glaciers already vanishing.
Poor weather conditions including low snowfall, warm temperatures including an exceptionally hot June last year, nearly 5°C above the average, have contributed to the retreat, the club says.
A ‘wake-up call’
“The glaciers are melting – and with every new report, the urgency grows,” club vice president Nicole Slupetzky says.
“It’s no longer a question of whether we can still save the glaciers in their old form; it’s about mitigating the consequences for ourselves.”
Such changes in the Alps should serve as a “wake-up call” for policymakers and the public in its behaviour, the club argues.
It says the current figure was lower than during the previous two years, but still ranks as the eight-largest retreat in the 135 years of measurements.