Inventory of glacial lakes in Austria (elevation >1700m)

Glacial lakes constitute a substantial part of the legacy of vanishing mountain glaciation and act as water storage, sediment traps and sources of both natural hazards and leisure activities. For these reasons, they receive growing attention by scientists and society. However, while the evolution of glacial lakes has been studied intensively over timescales tied to remote sensing-based approaches, the longer-term perspective has been omitted due a lack of suitable data sources. We mapped and analysed the spatial distribution of glacial lakes in the Austrian Alps. Lakes in the inventory are located above 1.700 m a.s.l. and have a size greater than 1000 m². The lake inventory contains information on lake location, size, elevation, lake type (dam classification: dam material, damming process, dam form), lake formation period, glacial water supply, direct glacier contact. The lake mapping is based on orthoimages from 2015. Lake formation period corresponds to glacier inventory data of Austria (see Fischer et al. 2015, doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.844988).