Endangered worlds
Farewell visit
On Zugspitze you can find two of the last glaciers in Germany – the Nördliche Schneeferner and the Höllentalferner. Even in high summer you will feel the primal force of the elements and discover, how over millennial wind, snow, ice and sun have shaped the mountain landscape at 2,600 meters above sea level.
But also the „eternal ice“ on Zugspitze is actually threatened by global warming. Already in 2022, the Südliche Schneeferner at plateau Zugspitze has lost its status as a glacier. Now it is categorized as dead ice. The Nördliche Schneeferner will also be completely melted in a few years.
Farewell
Three perspectives of the Nördlicher Schneeferner on plateau Zugspitze.
What characterizes a glacier
A glacier can be divided into two parts:
- the accumulation zone in the upper part of the glacier
- the ablation zone at the bottom of the glacier
For the development and growth of a glacier snow is required. Fresh snow transforms into older snow, then into firn and last but not least into glacier ice.
With a certain amount of ice, the pressure on the ground combined with the tilt of the rock bed creates a high shear stress. The temperature at the rock bed rises by the shear stress and the glacier partially melts at the subsurface. On the meltwater the ice can glide on the ground – the glacier is flowing. By the gliding process, ice is transported from the accumulation zone to the ablation zone.
If more ice melts in the ablation zone than is created in the accumulation zone, the mass of the glacier is reduced. Over several years, the glacier melts and slowly disappears.
Dead ice vs. glacier
In 2022, the Südliche Schneeferner at plateau Zugspitze has lost its status as a glacier. Now it is categorized as dead ice.
For the categorization as a glacier different parameters have to be met. Particularly important is the flowing, the slow movement of a glacier.
Dead ice, on the other hand, is a glacial remaining that got seperated of the glacier itself due to rapid melting. Those remains no longer have a connection to the moving glacier. Dead ice can often be found in regions with a constant loss of glacier ice. Based on their fl owing movement, glaciers fill out hollows in the ground. As the ice is thicker in these hollows, it remains for a long period of time, even if the glacier itself has already disappeared.
Indicators
Currently there are only four remaining glaciers in Germany, two of them – the Nördlicher Schneeferner and the Höllentalferner – here at Zugspitze.
They are all categorized as small glaciers. Due to their small extension in height these glaciers react faster and more intense to climate changes. This means the entire glacier gains or loses mass by growing or melting. As consequence, they are more sensitive indicators of climate change compared to bigger glaciers.
According to current forecasts, longterm observations and measurements, all German glaciers will disappear within the next decades. The Nördliche Schneeferner will lose its classification as a glacier presumably around 2030.
Due to their small size, the disappearance of these glaciers will not have a substantial impact on the hydrologic cycle in Bavaria. Nevertheless we lose an important and amazing part of the alpine landscape.
