Experts: Austria Likely to be Largely Ice-free Within 45 Years

FILE - A group of hikers is on the way to the Jamtalferner Glacier near Galtuer, Austria, on Sept. 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, File)
FILE - A group of hikers is on the way to the Jamtalferner Glacier near Galtuer, Austria, on Sept. 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, File)
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Experts: Austria Likely to be Largely Ice-free Within 45 Years

FILE - A group of hikers is on the way to the Jamtalferner Glacier near Galtuer, Austria, on Sept. 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, File)
FILE - A group of hikers is on the way to the Jamtalferner Glacier near Galtuer, Austria, on Sept. 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, File)

Austrian glaciers receded last year at a rapid pace and the Alpine country is likely to be largely ice-free in 40 to 45 years as the process continues, experts said Friday.
The Austrian Alpine Club said that, of the 93 glaciers its volunteers measured and observed, all but one receded in 2022-2023.
The 79 glaciers measured both last year and the previous year were an average 23.9 meters (78 feet) shorter than a year earlier, it said in an annual report. That was the third-highest figure of shrinkage in both the club's 133 years of measurements and in the past seven years. The retreat of 14 other glaciers was observed less precisely, for example by comparing photos, The Associated Press reported.
The biggest retreat was that of Austria's biggest glacier — the Pasterze, in the Glockner mountain group in the southern province of Carinthia — which shrank by 203.5 meters (668 feet), a record for that glacier.
Gerhard Lieb, the co-leader of the club's glacier measurement service, said Austria's glaciers can no longer be saved and their disappearance in the coming decades is “unstoppable.”
The process of forming snow reserves at the upper ends of glaciers so that they can stabilize takes decades, "and the time is up,” he added. "That means nothing can be done anymore.”
“There might be some remnants in shadowed locations — maybe at the Glockner glacier on the north-east side, some areas in the Oetztal valley,” said the service's other co-leader, Andreas Kellerer-Pirklbauer. "But de facto, in 40 to 45 years all of Austria will be pretty much ice-free.”
The experts, both of whom work at the University of Graz's geography institute, said that the continued existence of Austria's glaciers is down entirely to ice reserves from the past.
Kellerer-Pirklbauer said that “a late but very long and warm melting period in 2023” was the main culprit in the latest numbers.
Last year's average figure for glacier retreat fell short of the record set in 2021-2022 of 28.7 meters (94.2 feet). But no glacier receded by more than 100 meters that year, and two did in the latest report: Alongside the Pasterze, Tyrol province's Rettenbachferner glacier was 127 meters (416.7 feet) shorter. Only one glacier, the Baerenkopfkees in the Glockner group, was unchanged in length last year.
Glaciers are masses of ice that form as snow and ice compact over centuries and then flow slowly over land. Their melting is one of the most notable indications of human-caused climate change, with glaciers around the world rapidly retreating.
Experts in neighboring Switzerland said in September that that country saw 4% of its total glacier volume disappear in 2023, the second-biggest decline in a single year on top of a 6% drop in 2022.



Hundreds Evacuated as Greece Wildfire Rages on Crete

Firefighters stand next to rising flames as a wildfire burns near Ierapetra, on the island of Crete, Greece, July 3, 2025. REUTERS/Stefanos Rapanis
Firefighters stand next to rising flames as a wildfire burns near Ierapetra, on the island of Crete, Greece, July 3, 2025. REUTERS/Stefanos Rapanis
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Hundreds Evacuated as Greece Wildfire Rages on Crete

Firefighters stand next to rising flames as a wildfire burns near Ierapetra, on the island of Crete, Greece, July 3, 2025. REUTERS/Stefanos Rapanis
Firefighters stand next to rising flames as a wildfire burns near Ierapetra, on the island of Crete, Greece, July 3, 2025. REUTERS/Stefanos Rapanis

A wildfire fanned by gale-force winds on the southern Greek island of Crete has forced the evacuation of locals and tourists, officials said on Thursday.

Greece is sweltering in a heatwave that is searing much of southern Europe, said AFP.

The country has become particularly vulnerable in recent years to summer wildfires, which are fueled by strong winds, drought and high temperatures linked to climate change.

Local media said around 1,500 people had to be evacuated because of the blaze, which broke out on Wednesday evening.

"Evacuations took place in numerous hotels and tourists were safely transferred to a closed gymnasium in the municipality of Ierapetra," vice-prefect Yannis Androulakis told TV channel Mega, referring to the holiday town in the southeast.

He said the authorities acted because water bomber planes could not reach the affected areas overnight.

"At the moment, there are three active fronts," Androulakis said. "Because of the strong winds, the fire has progressed quite rapidly."

Around 270 firefighters, 10 helicopters and drones have been deployed to tackle the blaze, said Vassilios Vathrakoyannis, a spokesman for the fire service.

They include reinforcements sent in from the capital, Athens.

"There are still a number of different fronts. The fire is burning scrubland and crops," he said.

"The winds are very strong -- up to nine on the Beaufort scale."

- Uneven, arid terrain -

Crete, Greece's largest island, has an arid, uneven landscape criss-crossed by gullies, making it difficult for firefighters to tackle the blaze.

The fire has damaged both houses and crops in fruit and vegetable greenhouses, local media said.

Like the rest of Crete, Ierapetra –- a seaside resort with a population of 23,000 -- takes in thousands of tourists in the summer.

Vathrakoyannis said the authorities would assess the extent of the damage once the fire had been brought under control.

He stressed the risk of fires was "considerable" in July, the hottest month of the year in Greece.

Until now, Greece had been more or less spared the heatwave that has gripped other parts of southern Europe.

The country recorded its hottest ever summer last year when 45,000 hectares were torched, according to WWF Greece and the Athens National Observatory.

In terms of surface area destroyed, 2023 was the worst on record.

Nearly 175,000 hectares were obliterated and 20 people died during a series of prolonged heatwaves when temperatures rose in places to 46 degrees Celsius (115 degrees Fahrenheit).