Scientists Conduct Annual Monitoring Of Pasterze Glacier

HEILIGENBLUT, AUSTRIA - SEPTEMBER 12: Scientists from the University of Graz walk past melting snow as they ascend to the plateau of the Pasterze glacier on September 12, 2023 near Heiligenblut, Austria. The scientists were collecting data to assess changes in length, depth and flow of the Pasterze, Austria’s biggest glacier, as part of an annual monitoring project of 89 Austrian glaciers administered by the Austrian Alpine Association (Oesterreichischer Alpenverein). The Pasterze is losing length and depth in a process that has accelerated to a record degree over the past ten years, with a loss of 87.4 meters in length and 14.7 million cubic meters of ice last year alone. While Austria's glaciers have been steadily receding since the Little Ice Age of the mid 19th-century, periods of intermittent glacier growth extended into the 1980s. Since then the glaciers have been receding rapidly, with the pace of melting having accelerated sharply in the last decade. Scientists blame global warming, which is extending and intensifying the summer melting season of the glaciers. In addition, diminished annual snowfalls are leaving the glaciers more exposed to the sun and preventing the formation of new ice. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)