Cavers stand in awe as they view ice formations in the caves of the European Alps, threatened by global warming. A lake of meltwater is in the foreground of this image. The beautiful, spectacular and unique ice caves of the European Alps are some of the best in the world, and for thousands of years they have sat silently beneath the rocky mountainous landscape, coolly archiving information about changes to the environment above. These awe-inspiring, little-seen landscapes have historically been farmed for ice, and in the last century they have provided a source of tourism. Today though, they are threatened by warming temperatures, which are rising twice as fast in the Alps as compared to the global average. Over the last few decades, the ice has already declined rapidly, and this will continue into the future. Recently, they have become an important avenue for scientific research, but the clock is ticking also for the scientists who are working to understand them; Austria