Even assuming the most optimistic climate scenarios, the Hallstätter Glacier will eventually melt completely, two Green party politicians, Climate Minister Leonore Gewessler and Stefan Kaineder, a member of the state of Upper Austria’s legislature, told the press at a news conference held at the foot of the glacier on Wednesday.
As glaciologist Klaus Reingruber further pointed out, the rocks exposed by the receding glacier will only hasten its melting.
He also added that “Since measurements were first taken in 2006, the Hallstätter Glacier has lost [...] one-third of its mass. More than 800,000 square meters of the surface of eternal ice [which under normal conditions does not melt during summer] are now irrevocably lost.”
Andrea Fischer, another glaciologist and Austria’s 2023 Scientist of the Year, said that it is possible the latter part of this century will be warmer than any period over the past 1.5 million years and that the consequences for the environment are unpredictable. For example, it cannot be foreseen which areas will remain suitable for human habitation. Fischer also said that adjusting to climate change will be impossible.
“An alternative to that is to limit climate change. We can learn all that by looking at measurements carried out all over the world, including here, on the Hallstätter Glacier,” she said.
Minister Gewessler said that the melting of glaciers is “a warning signal.” According to her “if we do not boldly make a step forward and consistently protect the climate, it will be too late. Then, the mountains and this planet will be irreversibly changed from the way we know them.”
She was seconded by Kaineder, who said that the weather anomalies that can now be observed are becoming more frequent and intensive as climate change progresses. The Upper Austrian legislator called for more “environmental reclamation instead of covering it with concrete if we want to better protect ourselves from the fatal effects of the [global] warming.”
The Hallstätter Glacier is the biggest glacier of the Dachstein mountain in the Eastern Alps, covering its norther slopes. The meltwaters from the Hallstätter flow into the aptly named Eissee (lit.: ‘ice lake’). The glacier and the areas surrounding it are recognized as some of the most beautiful places in Austria by tourists and skiers.
