The Schlatenkees glacier in the Hohe Tauern mountains has lost more than half of its surface area since the peak of the Little Ice Age. Length changes have been measured regularly since the beginning of the 20th century, and point measurements of the mass balance have been taken at the tongue since 2010. The Austrian glacier inventories contain glacier boundaries from the LIA maximum, 1969, 1998, and 2009.
The water yield of the glacier is measured using mass balance gauges at the tongue of the Schlatenkees, while precipitation measuring stations of the hydrographic service below the glacier and at the Mullwitzkees enable the interpolation of the contribution of precipitation to the mass balance. A discharge measuring station will be set up and maintained as part of the project.
This will establish interdisciplinary monitoring at the Schlatenkees as a basis for further investigations, with findings on the variability of the water bodies and their water flow also expected in the first year of investigation.