Pasterze Hangs on as Austria’s Largest Glacier

NASA Science reports that Austria's largest glacier, the Pasterze in the Eastern Alps, is down to a single narrow icefall connecting its upper and lower sections. That last link, known as the Hufeisenbruch, has shrunk from nearly nine hundred meters wide in 1998 to just one hundred twenty meters, and researchers say it could break within a year or two. If it goes, the Pasterze will lose its status as Austria's largest glacier to the Gepatschferner. The retreat has been ongoing since the mid-1800s, with accelerating losses since 1980.

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