Short Communication: The 2023 Glacier Inventory for South Tyrol in Context of the Inventories 1997, 2005 and 2017

Abstract

This paper presents a new glacier inventory for the region of South Tyrol, Italy. Referring to the glacier state of the year 2023, it is the fourth contribution to the series of homogenized glacier inventories for this region after the inventories of 1997, 2005 and 2017 which were also revised as part of this study.

The 2023 inventory includes 729 glacier parts in seven mountain groups with a total area of 72.1 km². Comparisons with the existing inventories show an acceleration of area loss in all mountain groups for the period 2017 to 2023 compared to the period 2005 to 2017. The loss of area compared to the 2017 inventory (1997) is 13.8 km² (50.1 km²), which corresponds to a relative decline of 16.1 % (41.0 %). The decline affects the entire study region, with the mountain ranges west of the Eisack / Isarco River (except for the Texel Group) tending to experience smaller (relative) declines in area than those in the east due to topographical factors.

The average change in surface elevation over glacierized areas since the last inventory in 2016/17 amounts to -8.7±0.14 m which corresponds to a volume loss for the entire study area of around 0.75±0.01 km³, or to a mass loss of 635± 56 million tons.