Goldbergkees - History

The Goldbergkees (formally known as Vogelmaier - Ochsenkarkees), situated in the Austrian alps (Hohe Tauern), is now divided in three parts. The upper part is near the summit of Hoher Sonnblick. The part in the middle is largest part of the glacier. The lowest part of the glacier is also the smallest. Overall, the total area of Goldbergkees is 1.03 km² (2015). The glacier covers an altitudinal range from 2400 to 3050 m a.s.l., is exposed mainly to N & E and draining via Hüttwinklache into the Salzach river.

The three parts of Goldbergkees (aerial image from 2015, digital elevation model from 2009).

Mass balance measurements started 1988/89. The mean annual mass loss of the entire investigation period is -0.7 m w.e. a^-1 and -1.1 m w.e. a^-1 for the last decade.

Time series of mass balance measurements of Goldbergkees [m. w.e. a ^-1].

Between 1871 and 2015, the glacier lost 73 % of the glaciated area and 60 % of ice thickness. The following table shows the evolution of glacier area and mean ice thickness of Goldbergkees from 1871 - 2015 in different time steps.

Evolution of Goldbergkees (glacier area [km²] and mean ice thickness [m]).

Time series of images from 1829, 1983, 2003 and 2015. The image of 1829 is a watercolor painting of Thomas Ender. The images 1983, 2003 (photos: R. Böhm) and 2015 (photo: S. Reisenhofer) were taken from photo point Herzog Ernst.

Historic map of Goldbergkees from 1909. This was the first time that terrestrial photogrammetry were used to map a glaciated region (source: A. Hübl, 1912).