Observatorium Sonnblick

The Observatorium Sonnblick stands on the summit of the Hoher Sonnblick at 3,106 metres, within the Goldberggruppe range and the core zone of the Hohe Tauern National Park. It belongs to the Rauris municipality in Salzburg and is managed by GeoSphere Austria. The site has been manned continuously since 1886, with only four days of interruption in its history. The station began after Julius von Hann, director of the ZAMG, took up Ignaz Rojacher’s proposal at the 1879 Rome meteorological congress. Built with funds from the ÖGM and private donors, it opened in September 1886 as the world’s highest year-round observatory. In 1986 a new building added air-chemistry measurements, and since then research has expanded into climate change, air pollution transport and permafrost thaw. The observatory now leads long-term climate records and contributes to international programmes such as ACTRIS and GAW. Inside, two ZAMG technicians work 14-day shifts maintaining instruments that track temperature, wind, cosmic rays and trace gases. Outside, the rocky summit is stabilised by concrete clamps anchored into the thawing permafrost. A modern cable car, opened in 2019, brings visitors to the site without exposing the fragile environment to climbers. From the platform the view stretches across the High Tauern peaks and down to the valleys below.