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The Schneeferner in the Bavarian Alps is Germany's highest and largest glacier.〔〔(''Gletscherrekorde'' ) at www.planet-wissen.de. Accessed on 23 Dec 2010〕〔(''Kaltgestellter Gletscher'' ) at www.sueddeutsche.de. Accessed on 23 Dec 2010〕〔(''Daten & Fakten von Gletschern'' ) at www.gletscher-info.de. Accessed on 23 Dec 2010〕〔(''Gletscher'' ) at www.bergsteigen.at. Accessed on 23 Dec 2010〕 It is located on the ''Zugspitzplatt'', a plateau south of the country's highest peak, the Zugspitze, that descends from west to east and forms the head of the Reintal valley. The meltwaters from the glacier seep away into the karstified plateau and surface again in the Reintal, where they feed the River Partnach. The Schneeferner is one of the northernmost glaciers in the Alps. == History == In the 19th century, towards the end of the Little Ice Age, a large glacier, the ''Plattachferner'', covered almost the entire ''Zugspitzplatt'' between the Jubiläumsgrat arête and the Plattspitzen peaks. It covered an area of about 〔(''Nördlicher Schneeferner'' ) at bayerische-gletscher.de. Accessed on 23 Dec 2010〕 and left behind large moraines during its subsequent retreat that are still visible today. From about 1860 until the 1950s the glacier lost roughly of area each year and by the end of that period had shrunk to about .〔(''Zum Gletscherverhalten in den Alpen im zwanzigsten Jahrhundert'' ) by H. Escher-Vetter (2001), fig. 4, p. 55, German Weather Service (DWD). Accessed on 23 Dec 2010〕 During its retreat, the glacier split into a northern and a southern section towards the end of the 19th century. Later, the so-called Eastern or Little Schneeferner below the summit of the Zugspitze broke away from the northern section and has since totally disappeared.〔 Thereafter the glacier's retreat was less drastic and the remaining sections of the Northern Schneeferner tended to just shrink in thickness due to their location in a basin. In the 1960s and 1970s, favourable conditions even led to a growth in the thickness of the glacier.〔 Since 1980 the glaciers on the ''Zugspitzplatt'' have again been on the retreat. In 2006 the two remaining parts of the glacier still covered an area of ; in addition there were a couple of smaller firn fields.〔 Since 1990, global warming has seen consistently above-average summer temperatures recorded on the Zugspitze.〔(Garmisch-Partenkirchen Weather Station / Zugspitze 1900 to 2006 ), DWD〕 Summer snowfalls have become increasingly rare, which damages glaciers, because such snowfalls decrease the energy absorbed by glaciers and interrupt melting processes by increasing their albedo. About of ice melted has melted annually, on average. If this rate of melting continues, the glaciers on the Zugspitze will disappear between 2015 and 2030,〔(''Gletscherschwund und Klimawandel an der Zugspitze und am Vernagtferner'' ) by M. Weber (2003), Bavarian Academy of Sciences Commission for Glaciology〕 although a few small remnants of ice may survive longer. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Schneeferner」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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