The Pasterze, at approximately 8.4 kilometres (5.2 mi) in length, is the longest

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its Ablation#Glaciology, ablation over many years, often Century, centuries. It acquires dis ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and in the

Eastern Alps Eastern Alps is the name given to the eastern half of the Alps, usually defined as the area east of a line from Lake Constance and the Alpine Rhine valley up to the Splügen Pass at the Alpine divide and down the Liro River to Lake Como in the ...

. It lies within the

Glockner Group The Glockner Group Reynolds, Kev (2005). ''Walking in the Alps'', 2nd ed., Cicerone, Singapore, p.409, . (german: Glocknergruppe) is a sub-group of the Austrian Central Alps in the Eastern Alps, and is located in the centre section of the High ...

of the

High Tauern The High Tauern ( pl.; german: Hohe Tauern, it, Alti Tauri) are a mountain range on the main chain of the Central Eastern Alps, comprising the highest peaks east of the Brenner Pass. The crest forms the southern border of the Austrian states of S ...

mountain range in

Carinthia Carinthia (german: Kärnten ; sl, Koroška ) is the southernmost States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The main language is German language, German. Its regional dialects belong to t ...

, directly beneath Austria's highest mountain, the

Grossglockner The Grossglockner (german: Großglockner ; or just ''Glockner'') is, at 3,798 metres above the Adriatic (12,461 ft), the highest mountain in Austria and the highest mountain in the Alps east of the Brenner Pass. It is part of the larger Glock ...

. The length of the glacier is currently decreasing by about 50 m (160 ft) each year. Its volume has diminished by half since the first measurements in 1851.

Geography

The glacier reaches from its head, the Johannisberg peak at , to above sea level ( m AA). The Pasterze forms the source region of the

Möll The Möll (; presumably from sl, Mel, "rubble") is a river in northwestern Carinthia in Austria, a left tributary of the Drava. Its drainage basin is . Course The river rises in the High Tauern range of the Central Eastern Alps on the Pasterze ...

river, a left tributary of the

Drava The Drava or Drave''Utrata Fachwörterbuch ...

. Its waters also feed the Margaritze reservoir, used to generate electricity at the

Kaprun Kaprun () is a municipality in the Zell am See District in the state of Salzburg, Austria. The town is a tourist destination known as "Zell am See-Kaprun" with the neighbouring Zell am See and known for the glacier Kitzsteinhorn. Geography It is ...

hydropower plant north of the Alpine crest. The name ''Pasterze'' is possibly derived from sl, pasti, "pasture". Indeed the detection of wood, peat and pollen in the area of the retreating glacier indicate vegetation and also the use as pastureland during the last

interglacial An interglacial period (or alternatively interglacial, interglaciation) is a geological interval of warmer global average temperature lasting thousands of years that separates consecutive glacial periods within an ice age. The current Holocene in ...

period until about 1,500 BC. The surrounding area was purchased by the

German and Austrian Alpine Club The German and Austrian Alpine Club (german: Deutscher und Österreichischer Alpenverein, DuÖAV) was a merger of the German, Austrian and German Bohemian Alpine Club that existed from 1873 to 1938. History In 1862 the ''Sektion Austria'' was fou ...

in 1918; today the glacier is part of the High Tauern

National Park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

. The Pasterze is a major tourist destination, accessible via the scenic

Grossglockner High Alpine Road The Grossglockner High Alpine Road (in German ''Großglockner Hochalpenstraße'') is the highest surfaced mountain pass road in Austria. It connects Bruck an der Großglocknerstraße, Bruck in the state of Salzburg (state), Salzburg with Heilige ...

and a funicular railway that leads down to its margin. Since its opening in 1963, the edge of the glacier has retracted about from the lower station.

External links

Pasterze Glacier Trail

Multi-temporal satellite view of Pasterze Glacier
{{Coord, 47, 05, 08, N, 12, 43, 24, E, region:AT-2_type:glacier_source:dewiki, display=title Glaciers of Austria Landforms of Carinthia (state) Glaciers of the Alps Glockner Group Tourist attractions in Carinthia (state)

Geography

See also

External links