The Schwarzmilzferner glacier in Austria's Allgäu Alps has lost its status as a glacier after a hot summer, with scientists predicting its complete disappearance next year.
The ice field on the Tyrolean side of the Allgäu Alps lost more than four meters in thickness and roughly half its volume during the warm months. Located on the southeast side of Mädelegabel and Hochfrottspitze at around 2,450 meters, it no longer meets the criteria for glacier status.
"After the coming summer, it will most likely be completely gone," said Christoph Mayer, a glaciologist at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, on Saturday. He and his colleagues have monitored the former last glacier of the Allgäu Alps on the Austrian side for 26 years, documenting significant ice mass losses since 2016.
"This trend has intensified further since 2022. Since then it was clear that the glacier's days were numbered," Mayer said. Besides thickness and volume, whether a glacier flows is decisive for its definition, which is no longer the case for the Schwarzmilzferner.
The ice field near the Austrian-German border is not an isolated case. "Several smaller glaciers disappear in the Alps every year," Mayer explained. Even if winter brings heavy snow, ice masses shrink rapidly because summers have become too hot for them.
According to Mayer's current assessment, the complete Eastern Alps will be ice-free between 2060 and 2070.
