| Geography of Austria | |
 | |
| Continent | Europe |
| Region | Central Europe |
| Coordinates | 47°20′N13°20′E / 47.333°N 13.333°E /47.333; 13.333 |
| Area | Ranked 114th 83,879 km2 (32,386 sq mi) |
| Coastline | 0 km (0 mi); landlocked) |
| Borders | 2,534 km (1,575 mi) Czech Republic 402 km (250 mi) Germany 801 km (498 mi) Hungary 331 km (206 mi) Italy 404 km (251 mi) Liechtenstein (non-EU) 34 km (21 mi) Slovakia 105 km (65 mi) Slovenia 330 km (210 mi) Switzerland (non-EU) 158 km (98 mi)[citation needed] |
| Highest point | Grossglockner 3,797 m |
| Lowest point | Neusiedler See 115 m |
| Longest river | Danube 2,857 km |
| Largest lake | Bodensee 571 km2 |
Austria is a predominantly mountainous country inCentral Europe, approximately betweenGermany,Italy andHungary.[1] It has a total area of 83,871 square kilometres (32,383 sq mi).[2][3]
Austria shares national borders with Switzerland (a non-European Union member state, which it borders for 158 km, or 98 mi) and the principality ofLiechtenstein (also a non-EU member state, of which it borders for 34 km or 21 mi) to the west, Germany (801 km or 497 mi) and theCzech Republic (402 km or 249 mi) andSlovakia (105 km or 65 mi) to the north, Hungary to the east (331 km or 205 mi), andSlovenia (330 km or 185 mi) and Italy (404 km or 251 mi) to the south (total: 2,534 km or 1,574 mi).[1][2]
The westernmost third of the somewhat pear-shaped country consists of a narrow corridor between Germany and Italy that is between 32 and 60 km (20 and 37 mi) wide.[1] The rest of Austria lies to the east and has a maximum north–south width of 280 km (170 mi).[1] The country measures almost 600 km (370 mi) in length, extending fromLake Constance (GermanBodensee) on the Austrian-Swiss-German border in the west to theNeusiedler See on the Austrian-Hungarian border in the east.[1] The contrast between these two lakes – one in the Alps and the other a typicalsteppe lake on the westernmost fringe of theHungarian Plain – illustrates the diversity of Austria's landscape.[1]
Seven ofAustria's nine federal states have long historical traditions predating the establishment of the Republic of Austria in 1918:Upper Austria,Lower Austria,Styria,Carinthia,Salzburg,Tyrol, andVorarlberg.[1] The states ofBurgenland andVienna were established afterWorld War I.[1] Most of Burgenland had been part of theKingdom of Hungary, but it had a predominantlyGerman-speaking population and hence became Austrian.[1] Administrative and ideological reasons played a role in the establishment of Vienna as an independent state.[1] Vienna, historically the capital of Lower Austria, was asocialist stronghold, whereas Lower Austria wasconservative, and both socialists and conservatives wanted to consolidate their influence in their respective states.[1] Each state has a state capital with the exception of Vienna, which is a state in its own right in addition to being the federal capital.[1] In Vienna, the City Council and the mayor function as a state parliament (Landtag) and state governor (Landeshauptmann), respectively.[1]
Austria may be divided into three unequal geographical areas. The largest part of Austria (62%) is occupied by the relatively young mountains of the Alps, but in the east, these give way to a part of thePannonian plain, and north of the riverDanube lies theBohemian Forest, an older, but lower,granite mountain range.
TheDanube has its source nearDonaueschingen in southwestern Germany and flows through Austria before emptying into theBlack Sea.[1] It is the only major European river that flows eastwards, and its importance as an inland waterway has been enhanced by the completion in 1992 of theRhine-Main-Danube Canal inBavaria, which connects the riversRhine andMain with the Danube and makesbarge traffic from theNorth Sea to the Black Sea possible.[1]
The major rivers north of the watershed of the Austrian Alps (theInn in Tyrol, theSalzach in Salzburg, and theEnns in Styria and Upper Austria) are direct tributaries of the Danube and flow north into the Danube valley, whereas the rivers south of the watershed in central and eastern Austria (theGail andDrau rivers in Carinthia and theMürz andMur in Styria) flow south into the drainage system of the Drau, which eventually empties into the Danube inSerbia.[1] Consequently, central and eastern Austria are geographically oriented away from the watershed of the Alps: the provinces of Upper Austria and Lower Austria toward the Danube and the provinces of Carinthia and Styria toward the Drau.[1]
Three major ranges of theAlps – theNorthern Calcareous Alps,Central Alps, andSouthern Calcareous Alps – run west to east through Austria.[1] The Central Alps, which consist largely of a granite base, are the largest and highest ranges in Austria.[1] The Central Alps run from Tyrol to approximately the Styria-Lower Austria border and include areas that are permanently glaciated in theÖtztal Alps on the Tyrolean–Italian border and theHigh Tauern inEast Tyrol and Carinthia.[1] The Northern Calcareous Alps, which run from Vorarlberg through Tyrol into Salzburg along the German border and through Upper Austria and Lower Austria toward Vienna, and the Southern Calcareous Alps, on the Carinthia-Slovenia border, are predominantlylimestone anddolomite.[1] At 3,797 m,Großglockner is the highest mountain in Austria.[1] As a general rule, the farther east the Northern and Central Alps run, the lower they become.[1] The altitude of the mountains also drops north and south of the central ranges.[1]
As a geographic feature, the Alps literally overshadow other landform regions.[1] Just over 28% of Austria is moderately hilly or flat: the Northern Alpine Foreland, which includes the Danube Valley; the lowlands and hilly regions in northeastern and eastern Austria, which include the Danube Basin; and the rolling hills and lowlands of the Southeastern Alpine Foreland.[1] The parts of Austria that are most suitable for settlement – that is, arable and climatically favorable – run north of the Alps through the provinces of Upper Austria and Lower Austria in the Danube Valley and then curve east and south of the Alps through Lower Austria, Vienna, Burgenland, and Styria.[1] Austria's least mountainous landscape is southeast of the lowLeithagebirge, which forms the southern lip of theVienna Basin, where the steppe of the Hungarian Plain begins.[1]
Thegranite massif of theBohemian Forest (known inGerman as theBöhmerwald), a low mountain range with bare and windswept plateaus and a harsh climate, is located north of the Danube Valley and covers the remaining 10% of Austria's area.[1] Notable is theManhartsberg a granite ridge which separatesWaldviertel fromWeinviertel.
The 35highest mountains in Austria:
(All heights are related to the 1875 Trieste tide gauge used in Austria -metres above the Adriatic)
In Austriaforest cover is around 47% of the total land area, equivalent to 3,899,150 hectares (ha) of forest in 2020, up from 3,775,670 hectares (ha) in 1990. In 2020, naturally regenerating forest covered 2,227,500 hectares (ha) and planted forest covered 1,671,500 hectares (ha). Of the naturally regenerating forest 2% was reported to beprimary forest (consisting of native tree species with no clearly visible indications of human activity) and around 23% of the forest area was found within protected areas. For the year 2015, 18% of the forest area was reported to be underpublic ownership, 82%private ownership and 0% with ownership listed as other or unknown.[4][5]
Land-use patterns in Austria change from Alpine to non-Alpine regions.[1] Approximately one-tenth of Austria is barren or unproductive, that is, extremely Alpine or above thetree line.[1] Just over 40% of Austria is covered by forests, the majority of which is in Alpine regions.[1] Less than one-fifth of Austria isarable and suitable for conventionalagriculture.[1] The percentage of arable land in Austria increases in the East as the country becomes less alpine.[1] More than one-fifth of Austria is pasture and meadow located at varying altitudes.[1] Almost half of thisgrassland consists of high Alpine pastures.[1]
Historically, high Alpine pastures have been used during the summer for grazing dairy cattle, thus making space available at lower altitudes for cultivating and harvesting fodder for winter.[1] Many of the high pastures are at altitudes of more than 1,000 m.[1]
Although agriculture in mountainous areas was at one time economically viable, in recent decades it has survived only with the help of extensive subsidies.[1]
The Alps make many areas of Austria uninhabitable.[1] Austria's so-called areas of permanent settlement – regions that are cultivated, continuously inhabited, and used for transportation, but do not include forests, Alpine pastures, or barren land – cover only 40% or 35,000 km2 of the country.[1] The great majority of the area of permanent settlement is in the Danube valley and the lowlands or hilly regions north, east, and south of the Alps, where approximately two-thirds of the population lives.[1]
In the country's predominantly Alpine provinces, most of the population live in river valleys: Bregenz on the shores of Lake Constance in Vorarlberg; Innsbruck on the river Inn in Tyrol; Salzburg on the river Salzach in Salzburg; and Klagenfurt on theWörthersee lake in Carinthia.[1] The higher the Alps are, the less inhabitable they become in terms of soil, microclimate, and vegetation.[1] Conversely, the lower and broader the Alpine valleys are, the more densely populated they become.[1]
Tyrol illustrates most clearly the relationship between Alpine geography and habitation.[1] As the most mountainous province (less than 3% of the land is arable), it is the most sparsely inhabited, with an area of permanent settlement of only 15%.[1]
Because of the Alps, the country as a whole is one of the least densely populated states of Western and Central Europe.[1] With ninety-three inhabitants per square kilometre, Austria has a population density similar to that of the formerYugoslavia.[1]
Austria's national borders and geography have corresponded very little.[1] Since thefall of the Western Roman Empire, the Alps and the Danube have not served to mark political boundaries.[1] Even within Austria, provincial borders were only occasionally set by the ranges and ridges of the Alps.[1]
Although the Alps did not mark political boundaries, they often separated groups of people from one another.[1] Because in the past the Alps were impassable, inhabitants isolated in valleys or networks of valleys developed distinct regional subcultures.[1] Consequently, the inhabitants of one valley frequently maintained dialects, native or traditional dress, architectural styles, and folklore that substantially differed from those of the next valley.[1] Differences were great enough that the origins of outsiders could easily be identified.[1] However, mass media, mobility, prosperity, and tourism have eroded the distinctness of Alpine regional subcultures to a great extent by reducing the isolation that gave them their particular character.[1]
Despite the Alps, Austria has historically been a land of transit.[1] The Danube valley, for centuriesCentral Europe's aquatic link to theBalkan Peninsula and the "Orient" in the broadest sense of the word, has always been an avenue of east–west transit.[1] However, Europe's division into two opposing economic and military blocs afterWorld War II diminished Austria's importance as a place of transit.[1] Since the opening ofEastern Europe in 1989, the country has begun to re-assume its historical role.[1] By the early 1990s, it had already experienced a substantial increase in the number of people and vehicles crossing its eastern frontiers.[1]
Within the Alps, four passes and the roads that run through them are of particular importance for north–south transit.[1] TheSemmering Pass on the provincial border of Lower Austria and Styria connects the Vienna Basin with the Mürz and Mur valleys, thus providing northeast–southwest access to Styria and Slovenia, and, via Carinthia, to Italy.[1]
ThePyrhn Pass between the provinces of Upper Austria and Styria and theTauern Pass between theHigh Tauern range and theLower Tauern range of the Central Alps in Salzburg, provide access to the Mur Valley in Styria and the Drau Valley in Carinthia, respectively.[1] The highways that run through these passes are important northwest–southeast lines of communication through the Alps.[1] The Pyrhn highway has been nicknamed theFremdarbeiterweg ("foreign workers' route") because millions ofGastarbeiter ("guest workers") in Germany use it to return to their homes in theBalkans andTurkey for vacation.[1] Many Germans and northern Europeans also use it in the summer months to reach theAdriatic coast.[1] After the outbreak of hostilities in Yugoslavia in the summer of 1991, however, a substantial amount of this traffic was re-routed through the Danube Valley andHungary.[1]
The most important pass in the Austrian Alps is theBrenner Pass, located on the Austrian-Italian border in Tyrol.[1] At 1,370 m, it is one of the lowest Alpine passes.[1] The route up the Inn valley and over the Brenner Pass has been historically an important and convenient route of north–south transit between Germany and Italy, and provides the most direct route between Europe's two most highly industrialized regions: Germany and northern Italy.[1]
Natural resources:oil,lignite,timber,iron ore,copper,zinc,antimony,magnesite,tungsten,graphite,salt,hydropower
Land use:
arable land:16.44%
permanent crops:0.79%
other:82.77% (2012)
Irrigated land:1,170 km2 (2007)
Total renewable water resources:77.7 km3 (2011)
Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural)
total:3.66 km3/yr (18%/79%/3%)
per capital:452.4 m3/yr (2008)
The Alps serve as awatershed for Europe's three major kinds of weather systems that influence Austrian weather.[1] The Atlantic maritime climate from the northwest is characterized by low-pressure fronts, mild air from theGulf Stream, and precipitation.[1] It has the greatest influence on the northern slopes of the Alps, the Northern Alpine Foreland, and the Danube valley.[1] The continental climate is characterized by low pressure fronts with precipitation in summer and high pressure systems with cold and dry air in winter.[1] It affects mainly eastern Austria.[1] Mediterranean high-pressure systems from the south are characterized by few clouds and warm air, and they influence the weather of the southern slopes of the Alps and that of the Southeastern Alpine Foreland, making them the most temperate part of Austria.[1]
One peculiarity of the Mediterranean weather systems is theföhn wind, a warm air mass that originates in the AfricanSahara and moves north rapidly, periodically raising temperatures up to 10 °C (18 °F) in a short period of time.[1] Many people respond to this rapid weather change withheadaches,irritability, andcirculatory problems.[1] During the winter, the rapid warming that accompanies a föhn can thaw the snow cover in the Alps to such an extent thatavalanches occur.[1]
Given the importance of Alpineskiing for the Austrian tourist industry, December is the month during which the weather is watched with the greatest anticipation.[1] As a rule, Atlantic maritime weather systems bring snow, and continental weather systems help keep it.[1] However, a predominance of cold, dry continental systems or warm Mediterranean ones inevitably postpone the beginning of the ski season.[1] In the summer, Mediterranean high-pressure systems bring warm, sunny weather.[1]
| Climate data for Lech, Vorarlberg (1440 m; average temperatures 1982 – 2012) Dfc, bordering on Dfb. | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | −0.7 (30.7) | 0.3 (32.5) | 3.5 (38.3) | 7.1 (44.8) | 11.8 (53.2) | 17.4 (63.3) | 16.8 (62.2) | 14.3 (57.7) | 15.1 (59.2) | 9.7 (49.5) | 3.7 (38.7) | 0.1 (32.2) | 8.3 (46.9) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −4.5 (23.9) | −3.7 (25.3) | −0.6 (30.9) | 2.9 (37.2) | 7.3 (45.1) | 10.6 (51.1) | 12.7 (54.9) | 12.2 (54.0) | 9.9 (49.8) | 5.6 (42.1) | 0.4 (32.7) | −3.3 (26.1) | 4.1 (39.4) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −8.2 (17.2) | −7.6 (18.3) | −4.7 (23.5) | −1.3 (29.7) | 2.8 (37.0) | 6.0 (42.8) | 8.0 (46.4) | 7.7 (45.9) | 5.6 (42.1) | 1.6 (34.9) | −2.9 (26.8) | −6.6 (20.1) | 0.0 (32.1) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 59 (2.3) | 54 (2.1) | 56 (2.2) | 70 (2.8) | 103 (4.1) | 113 (4.4) | 133 (5.2) | 136 (5.4) | 95 (3.7) | 67 (2.6) | 78 (3.1) | 66 (2.6) | 1,030 (40.5) |
| Source:"Lech climate data". | |||||||||||||
| Climate data for Kühtai, Tyrol(2060 m; average temperatures 1982 – 2012) ET, somewhat close to Dfc. | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | −3.3 (26.1) | −3.2 (26.2) | −0.9 (30.4) | 2.3 (36.1) | 7.0 (44.6) | 10.4 (50.7) | 12.7 (54.9) | 12.3 (54.1) | 9.6 (49.3) | 6.3 (43.3) | 0.5 (32.9) | −2.4 (27.7) | 4.3 (39.7) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −6.6 (20.1) | −6.5 (20.3) | −4.2 (24.4) | −1.1 (30.0) | 3.4 (38.1) | 6.6 (43.9) | 8.8 (47.8) | 8.6 (47.5) | 6.4 (43.5) | 2.9 (37.2) | −2.4 (27.7) | −5.4 (22.3) | 0.9 (33.6) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −9.9 (14.2) | −9.8 (14.4) | −7.5 (18.5) | −4.4 (24.1) | −0.2 (31.6) | 2.9 (37.2) | 4.9 (40.8) | 4.9 (40.8) | 3.3 (37.9) | −0.5 (31.1) | −5.2 (22.6) | −8.4 (16.9) | −2.5 (27.5) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 73 (2.9) | 66 (2.6) | 80 (3.1) | 87 (3.4) | 115 (4.5) | 126 (5.0) | 148 (5.8) | 138 (5.4) | 96 (3.8) | 74 (2.9) | 83 (3.3) | 72 (2.8) | 1,158 (45.5) |
| Source:"Kühtai climate data". | |||||||||||||
Austrians faced a number of ecological problems in the 1990s.[1] One of the most pressing is the pollution caused by the staggering increase of traffic through the country.[1] Traffic on the superhighway going through the Brenner Pass has, for example, increased from 600,000 vehicles per year in the early 1970s to over 10 million per year in the early 1990s.[1] One quarter of the traffic crossing Austria consists of semitrailers used for heavy transport.[1] The opening of Eastern Europe has only exacerbated the problem of transit traffic.[1]
The Alpine valleys through which much of this traffic passes are unusually vulnerable to ecological damage.[1] Narrow valleys are not conducive to dissipation of noise or pollutants caused by motor vehicles.[1] Inversions – cold layers of air that trap warm layers of air or warm layers of air that trap cold layers in the valleys and lowlands – also seasonally contribute to the magnitude of the pollution problem.[1]
Austria has negotiated with the EU to set limits on the amount of commercial transit traffic, especially through Tyrol.[1] Work is also under way to develop a "piggy-back" system of loading semitrailers on to flatbed railroad cars in southern Germany and northern Italy, transporting them through Tyrol by rail.[1] Environmentalists have pushed for measures that are more far-reaching.[1] They advocate, for example, digging a tunnel fromGarmisch-Partenkirchen in southern Germany toBolzano in northern Italy.[1]
Pollution is also brought by the weather systems that determine the country's climate.[1] Atlantic maritime weather systems carry pollution into Austria from northwestern Europe.[1] Austria's proximity to industrialized regions of former Communist states, with negligible or no pollution control policies or equipment, combined with the influence of continental weather systems also have proved to be extremely harmful.[1] Mediterranean weather systems transmit industrial pollutants from northern Italy.[1]
As a result of domestic and foreign pollution, 37% of Austria's forests had been damaged byacid rain and/or pollutant emissions by 1991.[1] The damage to forests has had dire consequences, including the decimation of forests that for centuries had protected many Alpine communities from avalanches,erosion,mudslides, orflooding caused by runoff.[1]
The seriousness of the ecological problems confronting the country gave rise in the 1970s to an environmentalist movement.[1] Political parties were formed, and representatives were elected to parliament.[1] Areferendum in 1978 closed down a newly completednuclear power station and turned the country away from the exploitation of nuclear energy.[1] Public opposition in 1984 stopped the planned construction of ahydroelectric power station in a wetlands region.[1]
The country's long-standing commercial use of the Alps for recreational purposes has also come under examination.[1] Extensive tourism places an inordinate amount of pressure on sensitive Alpine ecosystems.[1] Ski runs damage forests, as do summer sports such as off-trail mountain hiking or mountain biking.[1] Many Alpine villages have also grown greatly because of the tourist industry.[1] In extreme cases, they have up to twenty hotel beds for each inhabitant, a ratio that places a disproportionate seasonal burden on communal infrastructures and the environment.[1] For these reasons, efforts have been made to introduce "green" or "soft" forms of tourism that are more compatible with the Alpine environment.[1]
Part of the solution to Austria's ecological problems is being sought in stricter environmental legislation at the domestic level.[1] Ultimately, however, pan-European and global cooperation in the realm of pollution and emission control will be necessary to protect the country's environment.[1]
Environment - current issues:someforest degradation caused by air and soilpollution;soil pollution results from the use ofagricultural chemicals; air pollution results from emissions by coal- and oil-fired power stations and industrial plants and from trucks transiting Austria between northern and southern Europe
Environment - international agreements:
party to:Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds,Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change,Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified:Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol
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