Numerous Events for the "Glacier Protection Year" in Austria

At various locations in Austria, signposts will soon indicate when a glacier is expected to no longer be recognizable as such. Climate change is contributing to the fact that even the high alpine ice in our region will soon largely disappear.

Climate Change Also Threatens Glaciers in Austria

The signposts will be erected as part of an initiative titled "Goodbye Glaciers!? - Pfiati Gletscher!?" at various locations in the Alpine region. The first of its kind has been located on the campus of the University of Innsbruck since the end of February, as announced by the Alpine Space Research Focus of the University of Innsbruck in a press release - organizations interested in such a signpost can contact the initiators. "It's not just about highlighting the disappearance of glaciers. We also need to convey how our actions influence their future," said Michael Zemp, head of the World Glacier Monitoring Service, about the initiative.

University of Innsbruck as a Hotspot for the "Glacier Protection Year"

At the Tyrolean university, the "Year of the Glaciers" is being celebrated particularly comprehensively. The "28th Alpine Glaciology Meeting" already took place there on the 27th and 28th. The concentrated expertise on the topic of mountains and melting glaciers will then be discussed by more than 800 scientists from September 14 to 18 at the "International Mountain Conference" (https://imc2025.info/) in Innsbruck. The grim future of the 275,000 glaciers worldwide and their endangerment will also be widely discussed at the General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) in Vienna (April 27 to May 2). This largest gathering of researchers from various geoscientific disciplines annually brings together thousands of geologists, climate scientists, meteorologists, hydrologists, and many other fields.

Numerous Events Around "World Glacier Day"

In March, there are also numerous opportunities for laypeople to approach the topic in exchange with experts: For example, on March 20, the director of the Austrian Polar Research Institute (APRI), Birgit Sattler, or the glacier researcher and "Scientist of the Year 2023," Andrea Fischer, will discuss developments under the title "Ice matters" at the Alpinarium Galtür (Tyrol). The following day - on "World Glacier Day" - climate researcher Wolfgang Schöner, meteorologist Jakob Abermann, and Andreas Trügler - head of the Austrian "Sermilik" Polar Research Station in Greenland - will speak at the Grazer Meerscheinschlössel on the topic "In the Shadow of Climate Change - What Remains of the Eternal Ice? Status and Future of the World's Glaciers." The Metropol Kino Innsbruck will show the film "Requiem in White - The Undignified Death of Our Glaciers" on March 21. Sattler will then lecture on "Anthropogenic Stressors for Glaciers" on April 4 at the Natural History Museum (NHM) Vienna.

In the same place, under the direction of Mathias Harzhauser, NHM Department Director for Geology and Paleontology, climate change will be made visible with a special exhibition starting November 19. Photos by German photographer Jürgen März, who searches for historical photos of glaciers and compares them with current images taken from the same perspective, will also be shown. But the topic will also be addressed in smaller museums in the Alpine region. For example, the municipal museum Absam (Tyrol) offers an excursion program to discover ice age traces in the mountains. Under the direction of the Office for Hydrology and Reservoirs of the Province of South Tyrol, a traveling exhibition on the topic of glacier retreat will also be designed, which will be on display in North Tyrol in the fall.

(APA/Red)

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