“It was a couple of years ago, we saw this crack and this whole supporting structure is based on 5 pillars. This one lowered itself about 4 or 5 millimeters. This meant to us the mountain is moving.”

 

For more than a hundred years, Sonnblick Observatory has taken the Alps temperature.

 

“So the whole climate change which it could observe in the twentieth century was observed here. ”

 

And in the past few decades it’s measured a slow but steady increase. Lue Rasser has been watching the weather data at Sonnblick for more than 20 years.

 

“A lot of facts show the climate is changing dramatically and it is a tragic change. A good example is average temperature. It’s moved up by more than 1 degree centigrade.”

 

And from here Lue can watch it all in real time. “This is the meteor data system and you can read all the weather measurements right here. For example we can show precipitation, snow levels on glaciers, wind temperature, global and sky radiation and a whole lot more.”

 

But now the warmer weather is melting glaciers and hitting meteorologists right where they live. Sonnblick’s peak used to be held together by mountain permafrost, but with rising temperatures the permafrost was melting and the rock under the station was crumbling away.

 

“When I started here in 1980 precipitation was snow or sleet, but for the last 15 years the temperature is so high that at least for a month each year we only have rain.”

 

“And this rain caused freezing and refreezing and melting within the cracks and this of course splits up the cracks, you know.”

 

So the workers drilled holes deep into the mountain top, searching for rock that wasn’t cracked. They built a web of steel and concrete to hold the mountain together, and maybe, just maybe, keep the station standing.

 

Up here the weather can change in an instant and that’s why Sonnblick really does tower above most other observatories because it’s seen it all.

 

It is the oldest mountain observatory in 3000 meters in the whole world, and it collected data since 1886.

 

And the data show the warmer weather is giving no signs of slowing down, not just at Sonnblick but all through the Alps. Even mighty mountains are no match for a little rising thermometer. So for now, for the people at Sonnblick, fighting the effects of climate change is an uphill battle.