No glaciers left in the Allgäu Alps

Glacier loses its status

Not a single glacier is left in the Allgäu Alps: after a hot summer, the Schwarzmilzferner lost its glacier status. This was reported by the magazine Der Spiegel, citing Christoph Mayer, a glaciologist at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. According to him, over the warm months the ice lost about 4 meters of thickness and roughly half of its volume.

What the observations record

Mayer and his colleagues have been monitoring the glacier for 26 years, and since 2016 they have recorded noticeable mass losses. “Since 2022, this dynamic has intensified even further. Since then it has been clear that the glacier is finished”, the scientist noted. In his assessment, “after the next summer it will most likely disappear completely.”

Why the ice is no longer a glacier

Besides thickness and volume, whether the ice moves is also important for glacier status. The Schwarzmilzferner, on the southeastern side of Mädelegabel and Hochfrottspitze at an altitude of about 2,450 meters, no longer flows: there is not enough ice weight for that. In the middle of the last century it covered about 27 hectares; now only about 1 hectare remains, and its height has decreased by more than 35 meters.

Not an isolated case

Mayer emphasizes that this is not an isolated case: several small glaciers disappear in the Alps every year, and the process is unlikely to be stopped. According to current estimates, the Eastern Alps will be completely free of ice between 2060 and 2070. It was previously reported that a hidden threat accelerating the melting of the Doomsday glacier had been discovered.