Tracing glacier changes in Austria from the Little Ice Age to the present using a lidar-based high-resolution glacier inventory in Austria

Abstract

Abstract. Glacier inventories provide the basis for further studies on mass balance and volume change, relevant for local hydrological issues as well as for global calculation of sea level rise. In this study, a new Austrian glacier inventory has been compiled, updating data from 1969 (GI 1) and 1998 (GI 2) based on high-resolution lidar digital elevation models (DEMs) and orthophotos dating from 2004 to 2012 (GI 3). To expand the time series of digital glacier inventories in the past, the glacier outlines of the Little Ice Age maximum state (LIA) have been digitalized based on the lidar DEM and orthophotos. The resulting glacier area for GI 3 of 415.11 ± 11.18 km 2 is 44 % of the LIA area. The annual relative area losses are 0.3 % yr −1 for the ∼ 119-year period GI LIA to GI 1 with one period with major glacier advances in the 1920s. From GI 1 to GI 2 (29 years, one advance period of variable length in the 1980s) glacier area decreased by 0.6 % yr −1 and from GI 2 to GI 3 (10 years, no advance period) by 1.2 % yr −1 . Regional variability of the annual relative area loss is highest in the latest period, ranging from 0.3 to 6.19 % yr −1 . The mean glacier size decreased from 0.69 km 2 (GI 1) to 0.46 km 2 (GI 3), with 47 % of the glaciers being smaller than 0.1 km 2 in GI 3 (22 %).

The Dösen Rock Glacier in Central Austria: A key site for multidisciplinary long-term rock glacier monitoring in the Eastern Alps

“…Permafrost is widespread at elevations above c.2500 m asl as indicated by regional permafrost models (Boeckli et al, 2012). 44 glaciers 2 cover 12 km of the entire Ankogel Mountain Range (Fischer et al, 2015 (Lieb, 1996) are located near the rock glacier (Figs. 1C, 2).…”

“…This index describes semi-quantitatively the occurrence ______________________________________ > > of permafrost and varies from 'permafrost nearly in all conditions' to 'permafrost only in very favorable conditions' . Permafrost areas in Austria are more extended compared to gla-2 ciated areas which cover currently some 415 km (Fischer et al, 2015). Active rock glaciers are creeping landforms occurring in continuous or discontinuous permafrost areas with high-relief and suitable topoclimatic conditions.…”

“…Present climate change and its impacts on the cryosphere are omnipresent in high mountain areas. Impressive expressions of cryospheric changes in Austria are for instance massive rockfalls released from rock faces affected by permafrost degradation (Kellerer-Pirklbauer et al, 2012a) or multi-temporal, nation-wide glacier inventories (Fischer et al, 2015). Interference with human beings or infrastructure might turn these natural processes to natural hazard and are therefore also of socioeconomic interest and also relevance.…”

“…A combination of methods might be successfully used to understand movement, internal structure, climate, ground (Fischer et al, 2015), rock glaciers , and modelled permafrost (Boeckli et al, 2012). (C) Geological overview map of the study area based on Braunstingl (2005) (for bedrock) and own mapping (for Quaternary sediments), respectively.________________________________________________________________________________ Lieb et al (2012).…”

Long-Term Monitoring of Glacier Change at Gössnitzkees (Austria) Using Terrestrial Photogrammetry

“…49.8 ha according to the Austrian Glacier Inventory (Fischer et al, 2015a, b) and it is the largest glacier in the Schober Mountains. The cirque of Gössnitzkees is confined on three sides by mountain crests higher than 3000 m (Figure 2).…”