Amid Europe’s scorching summer of 2026, Austria’s largest glacier was holding on by one dwindling thread of ice. The last icefall connecting the upper and lower portions of the Pasterze Glacier in the Eastern Alps appeared poised to break, which would put an end to its reign as the country’s largest. Groups monitoring the glacier say the last conduit of ice may, depending on weather conditions, survive to see another year or two, or it may face its demise before the cold months arrive this year.
2026 年欧洲炎热夏季，奥地利最大的冰川仅靠一根逐渐减少的冰丝支撑着。连接东阿尔卑斯山帕斯特泽冰川上部和下部的最后一座冰川似乎即将破裂，这将结束其作为该国最大冰川的统治。监测冰川的组织表示，根据天气条件，最后的冰通道可能会再存活一两年，或者可能在今年寒冷的月份到来之前面临消亡。
The NASA/USGS Landsat images above capture the glacier’s change from August 22, 1985, to August 15, 2026. In 1985 (left), the higher-elevation portion of the glacier, where ice accumulates, fed ice to the valley below through multiple icefalls. (Note that ice along the southern edge of the valley is covered in debris , giving it a dark appearance.) In 2026 (right), only one icefall, known as the Hufeisenbruch, remained. The glacial ice in the valley below had receded substantially, and a proglacial lake filled in much of the area the ice once occupied.
上面的 NASA/USGS Landsat 图像捕捉到了冰川从 1985 年 8 月 22 日到 2026 年 8 月 15 日的变化。1985 年（左），冰川积聚的较高海拔部分通过多个冰瀑布将冰输送到下面的山谷。 （请注意，山谷南缘的冰被碎片覆盖，使其呈现出黑色的外观。）2026 年（右），只剩下一处被称为 Hufeisenbruch 的冰瀑布。下面山谷中的冰川已经大幅消退，冰湖曾经占据的大部分区域都被冰湖所填满。
In retreat since the mid-1800s, the Pasterze has lost mass almost continuously and at increasing rates since 1980 , according to scientists from the University of Graz , GeoSphere Austria , and the Austrian Alpine Club . Small advances have occurred in only seven years since 1879. Starting in the 2010s, the volume of ice supplied from higher elevations has been small enough to leave the ice in the valley almost stagnant.
据格拉茨大学、GeoSphere Austria 和奥地利阿尔卑斯山俱乐部的科学家称，自 1800 年代中期以来，帕斯特泽的质量几乎一直在消退，而且自 1980 年以来，质量不断下降，而且速度不断加快。自 1879 年以来，仅用了七年时间就取得了小幅进展。从 2010 年代开始，来自较高海拔地区的冰量已经很小，足以使山谷中的冰几乎停滞不前。
By 2020, the penultimate ice connection to the upper accumulation zone was replaced by a waterfall, leaving the Hufeisenbruch icefall as the glacier’s precarious linchpin. Between 1998 and 2025 , scientists from the University of Graz monitored the width of the icefall, finding a decrease from nearly 900 meters (3,000 feet) to just 120 meters (390 feet). Researchers attribute the change to decreasing ice inputs from above, along with increasing thermal energy emitted from ice-free rock faces that furthers the loss of ice.
到 2020 年，与上部堆积区的倒数第二个冰连接被瀑布取代，使胡菲森布鲁赫冰瀑布成为冰川不稳定的关键。 1998 年至 2025 年间，格拉茨大学的科学家监测了冰瀑布的宽度，发现冰瀑布的宽度从近 900 米（3,000 英尺）减少到仅 120 米（390 英尺）。研究人员将这种变化归因于上方冰输入的减少，以及无冰岩石表面释放的热能增加，从而进一步加剧了冰的损失。
Coupled with the dramatic loss of ice at Pasterze, apparent in the images above, is the growth of a proglacial lake at its terminus. Kellerer-Pirklbauer and colleagues tracked the lake’s growth from 1998 to 2019 and found that its area increased exponentially over that time. The researchers also documented several large-scale buoyant calving events in which ice slabs in contact with the water broke off from the terminus or even from the lake bed. Researchers are interested in how these lakes form and evolve not only because they can contribute to increased rates of ice loss, but also because they can raise the risk of dangerous outburst floods .
从上图中可以明显看出，帕斯特泽的冰层急剧流失，其终点处的冰湖也在不断增长。 Kellerer-Pirklbauer 和同事追踪了该湖从 1998 年到 2019 年的增长情况，发现其面积在此期间呈指数级增长。研究人员还记录了几次大规模的浮力崩解事件，其中与水接触的冰块从终点甚至从湖床上脱落。研究人员对这些湖泊的形成和演化感兴趣，不仅因为它们会导致冰损失率增加，而且还因为它们会增加危险的洪水爆发的风险。
The sweltering spring and summer of 2026 have shone a spotlight on the Pasterze and the many other glaciers in the Alps already undergoing rapid retreat in the 21st century . A hot and dry spring in Austria was followed by the highest combined June and July temperatures on record in Western Europe , according to Europe’s Copernicus climate monitoring service. In 2024 and 2025, nearly all of Austria’s glaciers retreated, and signs in 2026 point toward yet more melt . When Pasterze’s Hufeisenbruch icefall does succumb to melting or collapse, the glacier will cede its status as Austria’s largest to Gepatschferner in the Ötztal Alps in Tyrol.
2026 年闷热的春季和夏季，帕斯特泽冰川和阿尔卑斯山的许多其他冰川在 21 世纪已经开始快速消退，成为人们关注的焦点。根据欧洲哥白尼气候监测服务机构的数据，奥地利经历了炎热干燥的春季之后，西欧 6 月和 7 月的气温达到了有记录以来的最高水平。 2024 年和 2025 年，奥地利几乎所有冰川都消退了，2026 年的迹象表明冰川将进一步融化。当帕斯特泽的胡菲森布鲁赫冰川确实融化或崩塌时，这座冰川将把奥地利第一大冰川的地位让给位于蒂罗尔州奥茨塔尔阿尔卑斯山的格帕茨费尔纳冰川。
NASA Earth Observatory images by Michala Garrison, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey . Story by Lindsey Doermann.
NASA 地球观测站图像，由 Michala Garrison 使用美国地质调查局的陆地卫星数据拍摄。林赛·杜尔曼的故事。