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In the guest blog, Thomas Hofmann, geologist and librarian, and the historian Christa Hammerl from Geosphere Austria look at the stories of people at Sonnblick and the ups and downs of the observatory.
Today more than 30 meteorological parameters are measured at the Sonnblick Observatory (SBO). A look at the associated data portal shows the wide range of data from the atmosphere, the cryosphere (keyword: permafrost) and the biosphere that is automatically recorded around the clock. There is also the seismic measuring station (SOSA) under the summit, which records movements of the lithosphere. Real-time data and historical time series starting from the first manual readings in 1886 are available for research.
At the first International Meteorological Congress in Vienna in 1873, the IMO (International Meteorological Organization), forerunner of the WMO (World Meteorological Organization), was founded. At the next congress in Rome in 1879, research into higher air layers was discussed. Julius von Hann (1839 to 1921), director of the k. k. Central Institute for Meteorology and Earth Magnetism (later: ZAMG; today: Geosphere Austria) became active. He had recognized the need for permanent observation stations in the high mountains. The then existing stations at Obir (2,044 meters) in Carinthia and at Schafberg (1,776 meters) in Upper Austria were to be supplemented by a new station at Hoher Sonnblick at an altitude of over 3,000 meters.
A bold idea at a time when the development of the Alpine high mountain regions was still in its early phase. In the person of Ignaz Rojacher (1844 to 1891), who had been mining gold in Kolm Saigurn (Pinzgau, Salzburg) on the northern slope of the Hoher Sonnblick since 1876, the visionary Hann found a doer. The technology-savvy Rojacher, commonly known as "Kolm Naz", and his miners with high mountain experience built the station.
The Alpine Club covered the costs for the wooden house on the mountain top. The Austrian Meteorological Society (today: ÖGM) took care of financing the brick anemometer tower at a height of 3,106 meters, the telephone line from the summit via Kolm Saigurn to Rauris, 25 kilometers away, and the instruments. The necessary money came through collections; Emperor Franz Joseph I contributed 500 guilders.
Rojacher's mining infrastructure, an inclined elevator up to 2,100 meters above sea level, was available to conquer the summit. When the observatory opened on September 2, 1886, the train also transported guests who had traveled from afar. "In the ore wagons, two guests lay on the ground, the accompanying guides, miners or those otherwise familiar with this transport, stood on the beams that formed the frame of the wagon; they probably also leaned over the occupants of the wagon when it went up very steeply and thereby cut off the somewhat eerie view into the depths," describes Major General Albert Edler von Obermayer (1844 to 1915), long-time president of the Sonnblickverein, the adventurous journey to the top.
Supplying the observation station, which was run in the early days by Rojacher's miners, was a constant challenge: "On the fourth and final ascent to the Sonnblick, which I undertook with Rojacher in mid-September 1886, the supplies had pretty much run out, and as a result, plants [dialect: for minced loaves] were boiled in water, consisting of flour, a little fat and year-old, smoked buck meat." Rojacher had said straight away: “Good is necessary, but you can eat it,” said Obermayer. From 1887 onwards, the cuisine on the mountain was better - food was brought up every day.
In addition to an observer's room, the station also had a scholar's room. In the attic there were two rooms with four beds each for tourists; the furniture was provided by the Austrian Tourist Club. To the west, the observatory with the Zittelhaus, named after the Munich paleontologist Karl Alfred von Zittel (1839 to 1904), who was president of the Alpine Association from 1886 to 1888/89, was given an extension for tourists.
A few months before the observatory opened, the meteorologist Josef Maria Pernter (1848 to 1908) outlined the scientific infrastructure at Hoher Sonnblick. "The ongoing observations will be made on the barometer, thermometer, hygrometer, rain and snow gauge and the wind vane. The observer will be in contact by telephone with Kolm-Saigurn and Rauris and from there his morning observations will be telegraphed daily to the central office in Vienna." In addition to permanent monitoring and data delivery to Vienna, the station also offered an opportunity "for all those researchers who want to stay at this free, pure altitude for a shorter or longer period of time in order to solve scientific questions that can only be answered on high peaks, in pure air." (The Fatherland, May 16, 1886). These lines from Pernter, who succeeded Hann as director of the "Zentralanstalt" in Vienna in 1897, are essentially valid to this day.
Pernter, who, among other things, evaluated the wind conditions at the Sonnblick and spent longer periods of time in the Sonnblick Observatory for research, also published his experiences in the renowned magazine Nature (July 17, 1890) under the title "A Winter Expedition to the Sonnblick". This brought the Sonnblick Observatory to the attention of the international community. This notoriety later became a factor in the station's survival.
Initially, the Austrian Society for Meteorology (ÖGM) and the Alpine Association financed the ongoing operation of the observatory. But the financing mix soon proved to be unsustainable. In the summer of 1888, Pernter suggested "constituting a special [sic!] Sonnblick association, which should be formed from those interested in tourism and science and would be able to eliminate all the existential worries of our favorite station through a small annual membership fee." (The Fatherland, July 14, 1888). It would still be a while before the constitutive general meeting of the Sonnblick Association in the Green Hall of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in Vienna. On December 18, 1892 the time had come. Albert Edler von Obermayer was elected as president; among the early members who provided the basis for financing the observatory with contributions of two guilders per year was the geographer and meteorologist Wladimir Köppen (1846 to 1940) from Hamburg.
If you follow the Reichspost dated March 21, 1902, Pernter went one step further at the beginning of the 20th century when it came to securing the Sonnblick Observatory. He suggested "taking steps with the education administration [=Ministry of Education] so that the Sonnblick station can be taken over by the state."
Things got tight during the First World War. The loss of membership fees due to resignation, death or enlistment and the supply of food to the station were hardly manageable. In the second year of the war, people were starving. "Throughout the valley there was a severe shortage of flour, bread, fat and meat, eggs, potatoes and milk, things that normally made up the observer's diet but were now difficult to obtain from such a distance. After all, everyone down there had to deal with themselves and could care little about the observer above." In this emergency, the ZAMG in Vienna sent "several boxes of canned food and military rusks", which, however, could only be brought up the mountain with great difficulty and expense "due to the lack of chassis and carriers" (Sonnblickverein annual report 1915). The next year the ÖGM helped out.
In October 1922, the then director of the ZAMG, Felix Maria Exner (1876 to 1930), made headlines with an “informal meeting of meteorologists”. There were three women among the 28 guests from Germany, Scandinavia, Holland, Hungary and Austria. Mention should be made of Else Wegener, wife of Alfred Wegener (1880 to 1930). In 1912 he founded the theory of continental drift with his work “The Origin of Continents”. Else was the daughter of Wladimir Köppen, an early supporter of Sonnblick. She remembers "three unforgettable days" (October 14th to 16th) and writes in Wegener's biography (1960): "We three women who came up with us sat in front of the Zittelhaus and marveled at its beauty, while the men obediently listened to lectures in the room."
Exner gives details from inside: "This may have been the first case in which the lecturer at a scientific meeting stood in front of his auditorium in his shirt sleeves and slippers and his boots and socks, which had been hung out to dry on the blackboard, dangled around his learned head." But the scientists were happy. "In the evening there was even dancing, not only in Austrian, but also in Norwegian and Hungarian." (Neue Freie Presse, November 2, 1922). In addition to unforgettable memories for the participants, the conference also brought significant donations from the international scientific community.
While porters were supplied during the Second World War, construction of a material cableway began after the end of the war. In 1946, when supplies became tight, the American occupying forces were called in for help. Douglas transport machines dropped five tons of coal for heating, more than 500 kilograms of food and fuel for the generator (Die Weltpresse, November 15, 1946). The material cable car was finished in 1947. When there were problems, airplanes helped out again in April 1949 ("An airlift for two men"; Neue Zeit, April 27, 1949). In the summer, the material cable car was about to shut down and the operation of the observatory was questionable. “Sonnblick Observatory on the verge of dissolution” was the headline of the Wiener Kurier on July 28, 1949.
What then followed was a unique crowdfunding campaign, an Austria-wide campaign for science. The driving force was the Viennese teacher Josef Bendl (1914 to 1984). During the difficult times of the occupation, he was able to motivate children to help save the observatory through countless small donations, as the Vienna Kurier of February 25, 1950 announced with its headline about the rescue of the observatory. Bendl also wrote the book "The Sonnblick Calls" (1951), which was made into a film in 1952 (directed by Eberhard Frowein, premiered on April 8, 1952 in Vienna) and republished as a classic of youth literature in 2011. It triggered a wave of solidarity. By the summer of 1951, the “Association for the Construction of a Material Cable Car to Sonnblick” had collected around 100,000 schillings. It went into operation in 1953 and was renovated in the 1980s.
In the 21st century, the measurement program has been and continues to be expanded. The monitoring follows international measurement programs and standards, which are coordinated by the WMO (World Meteorological Organization). In 2016, the observatory became independent within the ZAMG (Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics) and got an ambitious boss in the form of earth system scientist Elke Ludewig, who had headed the meteorological observatory at the Neumayer Station in Antarctica from 2014. This meant that responsibility for personnel, infrastructure, monitoring and science was in one hand. Scientifically, this led to the international strengthening of the observatory. In the area of infrastructure, the Ludewig era began with the planning and renovation of the old Sonnblick cable car. It was opened in 2018 with a safe passenger cabin.
The observatory is integrated into European research infrastructure networks, such as the long-term ecosystem program LTER (Long-Term Ecosystem Research in Europe) or ACTRIS (Aerosol, Clouds and Trace Gases Research Infrastructure), which, among other things, deals with aerosols. It contributes to the WMO's GAW (Global Atmosphere Watch) program, where the atmosphere is the focus. The European center of ECCIN (European Center for Cloud ambient Intercomparison), a research program on cloud properties, is also located at Hoher Sonnblick.
In May 2022, the infrastructure of the Sonnblick Observatory was handed over from the Sonnblick Association to ZAMG, which became Geosphere Austria on January 1, 2023. This means that - 120 years after Pernter's vision - the highest weather station in the country came into state care. (Thomas Hofmann, Christa Hammerl, September 12, 2023)