Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Russian agency: Russia will conduct a nuclear test if the US does
Al-Nakhalah: We are the rightful owners, and we must fight to retrieve our rights
Al-Nakhalah: The enemy and its allies must know that we can never surrender to their terms and diktats after all the sacrifices made
Al-Nakhalah: The prisoner exchange clause can be completed in the next few days, and thus we will have pulled the [explosion] fuse and removed the enemy's justifications for aggression
Al-Nakhalah: The Resistance has expressed its willingness to negotiate on the basis that there are items that can be dealt with positively, the first of which is the prisoner exchange item
Al-Nakhalah: Trump's plan entails the Palestinian people's declaration of complete surrender to the enemy
PIJ Secretary-General, Ziyad al-Nakhalah, in an address aired on Al Mayadeen: The Resistance is engaging in a fierce negotiating battle under the so-called Trump plan
Russian Federation Council approves joint military cooperation agreement with Cuba
Al-Nunu: Today, the lists of prisoners required to be released, the agreed-upon criteria and numbers, were exchanged
Al-Nunu from Sharm el-Sheikh: Negotiations focused on mechanisms for implementing an end to the war, the withdrawal of occupation forces from the Gaza Strip, and the exchange of prisoners

Austrian scientists race to reveal melting glaciers' secrets

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: Agencies
  • 7 Aug 2022 10:28
3 Min Read

Ice and snow are melting at unprecedented rates and Austrian scientists are racing to save valuable scientific data

  • x
  • Austrian scientists race to reveal melting glaciers' secrets.
    Austrian scientists race to reveal melting glaciers' secrets.

Scientist Andrea Fischer, who is jumping from rock to rock over a brook produced by Austria's Jamtal glacier, is concerned that valuable scientific data would be irreparably lost as the snow and ice melt quicker than ever.

"I couldn't have imagined that it would ever melt as dramatically as this summer... Our 'archive' is melting away," the glaciologist said. 

Fischer, vice head of the Austrian Academy of Sciences' Institute for Interdisciplinary Mountain Research, has spent more than 20 years searching for the oldest regions of ice in Jamtal and four other Alpine glaciers across Austria's highest summits.

Such ice formations represent a unique time capsule dating back thousands of years for scientists seeking to reconstruct the Earth's climate in the distant past.

Read next: Snow at Austrian Alps melting earlier than ever before

According to Fischer, glaciers contain a unique treasure mine of data because as they expanded, the ice encapsulated twigs and leaves, which can now be carbon-dated.

Scientists can deduce when ice accumulated during colder periods or when milder conditions led it to melt based on the age of such material and the depth at which it was discovered.

However, glaciers are swiftly melting, including one in the remote and narrow Jamtal valley, not far from where tourists discovered the magnificently preserved 5,300-year-old mummy of Oetzi, the Iceman, in the 1990s.

According to the International Commission for the Protection of the Alps, temperatures in Europe's highest mountains have risen by about two degrees Celsius in the last 120 years, nearly doubling the global average (CIPRA).

The 4,000 glaciers in the Alps have since become one of the most visible manifestations of global warming.

Disappear completely

According to Fischer, the Jamtal glacier has been losing roughly one meter (three feet) of its surface each year, but this year it has already lost more than a meter.

"And we've got at least two months of summer left... where the glacier is entirely exposed to the sun," she warned. 

Snow typically shields glacier ice from the sun until September, but the little snow that fell last winter had already melted by early July.

Read next: Global heating is turning white Alps green, study finds

"This year is outrageous compared to the average of the past 6,000 years," Fischer said.

"If this continues, in five years, Jamtal glacier won't be a glacier anymore."

By the end of the summer, Fischer anticipates that nearly seven meters of depth – or roughly 300 years of climatic "archives" – will have melted off the surface.

'My heart is bleeding' 

The Alpine Club is already conducting a "Goodbye, glacier!" tour through the once-ice-filled valley in Galtuer, the nearest village to Jamtal with 870 residents who are primarily dependent on tourism, to raise awareness about the effects of climate change.

Scientists discovered that where the ice has retreated, roughly 20 types of plants, predominantly mosses, had taken over within three years. According to Fischer, larches are growing in some regions. Today, the ice is a 90-minute hike away.

  • Jamtal glacier
  • Melting ice caps
  • Austria

Most Read

Tucker Carlson speaks at a memorial for Charlie Kirk, Sunday, September 21, 2025, at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona (AP)

Tucker Carlson: Israeli officers gave orders on Iran inside Pentagon

  • Politics
  • 2 Oct 2025
A Hamas fighter in combat fatigues stands before the ceremony for the handover of Israeli captives to the Red Cross in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, February 22, 2025 (AP)

Hamas responds to Trump plan, backs Gaza withdrawal, exchange

  • Politics
  • 3 Oct 2025
ap

'Israel' pays influencers $7K per post to whitewash Gaza genocide

  • Politics
  • 1 Oct 2025
Mossad’s secret role in Aldo Moro’s 1978 murder revealed

Mossad’s secret role in Aldo Moro’s 1978 murder exposed

  • Politics
  • 5 Oct 2025

Coverage

All
War on Gaza

Read Next

All
Retired Israeli General Brik says Israel has reached point of no return.
Politics

Retired Israeli General Brik: 'Israel has reached point of no return'

Depleted by foreign wars, US seeks to re-arm for another confrontation
Politics

Depleted by foreign wars, US seeks to re-arm for another confrontation

Gaza’s newborns gasp for life as hospitals collapse amid Israeli war
Health

Gaza newborns gasp for life, share oxygen masks amid collapsed system

UK arms exports to 'Israel' reach record high despite ban calls
Politics

UK arms exports to 'Israel' reach record high despite ban calls

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS