100 years of ice dynamics of Hintereisferner, Central Alps, Austria, 1894–1994

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Abstract
Velocity measurements carried out on Hintereisferner, Central Alps, Austria, provide the unique opportunity to study 100 years of ice dynamics of this glacier. During this time, three periods of accelerated flow occurred, around 1920, in 1940 and in the 1970s; but only around 1920 did the acceleration actually lead to an advance of about 60 m. The velocity increased from 30 m year−1 in 1914 to more than 120 m year−1 in 1919, and doubled during the accelerations of 1940 and 1980. In the course of the third event, the velocity increase spread over a period of more than a decade (1965–79) with a comparatively low maximum. These velocity changes cannot be explained by increased deformation velocity due to increased ice thickness alone. Time series of the velocities at various locations along the glacier are given for the entire period, and an attempt was made to construct a time series of the velocity at a point 2 km from the strongly retreating front. The flow divergence was about 0.1 per year in the lowest 2 km, and emergence velocities reached 5 myear−1.

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