Bad Valleyferner
| Bad Valleyferner | |
|---|---|
 Bad Valleyferner from the north, from the Müllerhütte (2012) |
|
| location | South Tyrol (Italy) |
| Mountains | Stubai Alps |
| Type | Valley glacier |
| length | 4.02 km (2010) |
| surface | 6.16 km² (2009) |
| Exposure | east |
| Altitude range | 3470 m - 2550 m (2010) |
| Coordinates | 46 ° 57 '22 " N , 11 ° 10' 50" E |
 |
|
| drainage | Fernerbach → Ridnauner Bach → Eisack → Etsch |
The Übeltalferner ( Italian Ghiacciaio di Valle times ), with an area of about 6.2 square kilometers of the largest glaciers of the Stubai Alps . It is located entirely on Italian territory and is also the largest glacier in South Tyrol . It extends directly to the border with Austria both in the west and in the north .
The Übeltalferner is located at the end of the Ridanna Valley , which extends over a wide basin in the upper area. A large part of this basin is taken up by the Übeltalferner, which got its name from the threatening rock walls that frame this basin. The mighty glacier tongue that formerly stretched eastward from there was called Ebenferner , and it melted at the end of the 19th century .
There are two Alpine Club huts in the immediate vicinity of the glacier : on the one hand, the Müllerhütte, just north of the glacier at the foot of the southwest ridge of the Wilder Freilers , and on the other, the Becherhaus , just over a kilometer east of it on the Becherfelsen (3,195 m).
Position and shape
In the nutrient zone , the structure of the glacier is many-sided, the main stream is lined with rock niches and cirques , in which different amounts of snow accumulate depending on the exposure and incline . The most extensive of these cirques lies east of the ridge line between the Wilder Pfaff (3417 m) and the Sonklarspitze (3463 m), which is the highest point of the glacier. Two other cirques are located above 3200 m, one east of the ridge between the Sonnklar- and Schwarzwandspitze (3354 m), the other north of the Wilder Freilers (3418 m), embedded between its southwest and south ridge.
At an altitude between 2900 m and 2800 m, the arms of the glacier, fed by the various karen, combine in a wide, central basin to form the main stream. Here the glacier also reaches the ice of a smaller, north-exposed basin that lies north of the ridge between Hoffmannspitze (3113 m) and Königshofspitze (3132 m). The glacier probably has the greatest ice thickness at this point of confluence. Further below, further north-facing glacier basins feed the main river. These come from the ridge line between Königshofspitze, Botzer (3251 m) and Hochgewand (3190 m). A rock barrier divides the tongue end of the glacier into two parts: The northern branch runs along the lateral moraine, which remained from the glacier's peak in the mid-19th century, and ends at around 2550 m at Vogelhüttensee , a lake at the edge of the glacier . The southern arm ends above a 300 m high rock drop.
Mass balance
Since 2001, mass balance measurements have been carried out on the Übeltalferner using the direct glaciological method. Up to 2010, all nine budget years examined showed a negative mass balance, the average of the mean specific mass balance for these years was -849 millimeters of water equivalent (mm WE), which can be understood as the annual decrease in the average ice thickness of the glacier. The greatest losses were measured in 2003 and 2006 with -1461 and -1408 mm WE. The lowest loss occurred in 2004 and 2010 with -208 and -197 mm WE. In the comparatively glacier-friendly budget year 2009/2010, the equilibrium line (ELA) was at an altitude of 3032 m, the proportion of the accumulation area ratio (AAR) was 42%.
In the neighboring Hangenden Ferner north of the Teplitzer Hütte , where mass balance measurements have been carried out since 1995, the development is even more unfavorable. This is due to its southern exposure and the lower elevation of the glacier.
Web links
- Autonomous Province of Bolzano - South Tyrol: Übeltalferner, financial year 2008/2009 (Glacier Report. N. 02/2010)
- blikk.it: Historical and current photos
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c WGMS: Fluctuations of Glaciers Database. World Glacier Monitoring Service, Zurich 2012 ( DOI: 10.5904 / wgms-fog-2012-11 ), accessed on February 7, 2013
- ↑ a b c Autonomous Province of Bolzano - South Tyrol: Glacier Report. N. 02/2010, special edition for Climareport No. 178 ( online )
- ↑ a b c Autonomous Province of Bolzano - South Tyrol: Glacier Report. N. 03/2006, special edition for Climareport No. 130 ( online )