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A volunteer is sought to assume complete editorial control of the Club’s quarterly Newsletter from the end of 2011, soliciting content, selecting that which is most appropriate, liaising with our proof-reader and interfacing directly with the graphics designer who takes care of layout. If this challenge is of genuine interest to you, please contact the Club Secretary via the AAC(UK) Office for further details.  

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Austrian Glaciers

Translated July 2010 from Bergauf by Irene Oakes

1989

2006

Ochsental Glaciers, Silvretta Group

Surveys were first carried out by the OeAV in 1891, and 96 glaciers remained in the programme for 2010 when surveying was carried out from late August until early October in 12 areas. The numbers of glaciers surveyed ranged from 24 in the Ötztaler Alpen, 14 each in the Glocknergruppe and in the Stubaier Alpen, down to 1 in the Karnische Alpen. Over the year ending September 2010, 92% of these glaciers had retreated ( Wasserfallwinkelkees by nearly 72m), the remainder were stationary. Two glaciers were removed from the programme due to insufficient remaining ice.

Prof. Heinz Slupetsky joined the survey team in 1960. He works in the Glocknergruppe and the Granatspitzgruppe and his experiences make very interesting reading. A series of ‘glacier-friendly’ years with cooler summers and snowier winters began in 1965 and by 1970 even smaller glaciers were advancing. The ice block above the sub-glacial rock steps thickened, ice flowed faster and crevasses were torn wider. Prof. Slupetsky’s Stubachersonnblickkees thickened by 23m from 1964 to 1981. But from 1982, summers became  ‘glacier-hostile’, and the Stubachersonnblickkees was around 40m thinner in 2007 than in 1984.

At first it was something special for the surveyors to find measuring markers from the 1960s again brought to light from under retreating glaciers, but in general surveyors experience the end of the 'good' glacier years with disappointment. Prof. Slupetsky however is philosophical. Although his 51st measurements on the Stubachersonnblickkees, made in September 2010, showed 13.5m retreat, and the Untereisbodensee which first emerged from under the ice only a few years ago had further enlarged, he says it is exciting when a new lake comes into being - and interesting to ponder how long it will take the Stubachersonnblickkees to  disappear completely.   

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Last updated 13 July 2011