Dachstein Glacier Researcher: “We Are Astonished by How Fast It Is Happening”

For 20 years, glaciologist Klaus Reingruber has measured the Dachstein Glacier. When he began in 2006, the glacier was already retreating, but the change was far less severe than it is now.

Winter conditions have changed most dramatically. Snow depths were once two to three times higher than in recent winters, and at least one-third of the glacier remained snow-covered in summer. That area experienced almost no melting. Since 2018, a series of warm summers has transformed the glacier. It now lies bare every year, and ice is melting across its entire surface.

The landscape has become harder to cross. Crevasses are more numerous and larger, while more rock emerges from the ice each year. “We are astonished by how fast it is happening,” Reingruber said. The Dachstein is unusual because it reaches down to about 2,300 meters, lower than the large glaciers along Austria’s main Alpine ridge in Tyrol and Salzburg. Heavy precipitation along the northern edge of the Alps helped preserve it for so long, but melting has now reached the whole glacier.

Based on the melting rates of four to five meters of thickness a year seen over the past five years, researchers expect most of the glacier to be gone by 2040. The rough terrain beneath the ice will leave pockets where ice remains several meters deep. Those remnants could take another 10 or 20 years to disappear.

The consequences will extend beyond tourism. Glacier loss could contribute to lower river levels during hot, dry periods. On the Inn, where many glaciers feed the river, water levels could become too low for shipping, while energy production could also decline. At the Dachstein, heavier precipitation may partly offset the effects on the Traun. Tourism is already affected because the glacier is becoming more difficult for visitors to cross, while its infrastructure faces growing challenges.

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We are astonished by how fast it is happening.