Austria is a small, predominantly mountainous country geographically located in Central Europe, approx. between Germany, Italy and Hungary. It has a total area of 83,859 km², about twice the size of Switzerland and slightly smaller than the state of Maine.
The landlocked country shares national borders with Switzerland (164 km) and the tiny principality of Liechtenstein (35 km) to the west, Germany (784 km) and the Czech Republic (362 km) and Slovakia (91 km) to the north, Hungary to the east (346 km), and Slovenia (311 km) and Italy (430 km) to the south (total: 2563 km). Map of Austria. ... Map of the Earth ( Medium) ( Large 2 MB) Table of geography, hydrography, and navigation, from the 1728 Cyclopaedia. ... Regions of Europe Central Europe is the region lying between the variously and vaguely defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe. ... Square kilometre (US spelling: Square kilometer), symbol km², is an SI unit of surface area. ... Official language(s) None Capital Augusta Largest city Portland Area  - Total   - Width   - Length    - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 39th 33,414 sq mi  86,542 km² 190 miles  305 km 320 miles  515 km 13. ...

The westernmost third of the somewhat pear-shaped country consists of a narrow corridor between Germany and Italy that is between thirty-two and sixty km wide. The rest of Austria lies to the east and has a maximum north-south width of 280 km. The country measures almost 600 km in length, extending from Lake Constance (german Bodensee) on the Austrian-Swiss-German border in the west to the Neusiedler See on the Austrian-Hungarian border in the east. The contrast between these two lakes — one in the Alps and the other a typical steppe lake on the westernmost fringe of the Hungarian Plain — illustrates the diversity of Austria's landscape. A kilometre (American spelling: kilometer), symbol: km is a unit of length in the metric system equal to 1000 metres (from the Greek words χίλια (khilia) = thousand and μέτρο (metro) = count/measure). ... Map of the Bodensee; Schweiz is Switzerland, Deutschland is Germany, and Osterreich is Austria. ... A storks nest typical for the region The Neusiedler See (Hungarian: FertÅ‘) is the only steppe lake in Central Europe and is located at the border between Austria and Hungary. ... A steppe lake is a large flat lake without a natural outflow. ... The Great Alföld, Alföld, or Great Hungarian Plain (Hungarian: Alföld or Nagyalföld, Slovak: Veľká dunajská kotlina, Romanian: Câmpia Tisei, Serbian and Croatian: simply Panonski basen, Pannonian plain) is a plain/basin occupying the southern and eastern part of Hungary, some parts of eastern Slovakia...

Seven of Austria's nine provinces have long historical traditions predating the establishment of the Republic of Austria in 1918: Upper Austria, Lower Austria, Styria, Carinthia, Salzburg, Tyrol, and Vorarlberg. The provinces of Burgenland and Vienna were established after World War I. Most of Burgenland had been part of the Kingdom of Hungary, but it had a predominantly German-speaking population and hence became Austrian. Administrative and ideological reasons played a role in the establishment of Vienna as an independent province. Vienna, historically the capital of Lower Austria, was a socialist stronghold, whereas Lower Austria was conservative, and both socialists and conservatives wanted to consolidate their influence in their respective provinces. Each province has a provincial capital with the exception of Vienna, which is a province in its own right in addition to being the federal capital. In Vienna, the City Council and the mayor function as a provincial parliament and provincial governor, respectively. Since Austria is a federal republic according to the constitutional framework of Austrian politics, Austrias nine provinces are customarily referred to as States of Austria or Bundesländer, singular Bundesland. ... Upper Austria (Ober sterreich) is one of the nine federal states or Bundesl nder of Austria. ... Map of Lower Austria showing districts and the four quarters (Waldviertel in green, Weinviertel in red, Mostviertel in yellow and Industrieviertel in blue) Lower Austria (de: Niederösterreich) is one of the nine states or Länder in Austria. ... Styria (die Steiermark in German, Štajerska in Slovenian) is a state or Land, located in the south east of Austria. ... Carinthia (German Kärnten, Slovenian Koroška) is an Austrian state or Land, located in the south of Austria. ... Salzburg (area 7154 sq. ... The Tyrol is a historical region in Western Central Europe, which includes the Austrian state of Tyrol (consisting of North Tyrol and East Tyrol) and the Italian regions known as the South Tyrol and Trentino. ... Vorarlberg is the westernmost federal state of Austria. ... Burgenland (Hungarian Várvidék, Őrvidék or Felsőőrvidék, Croatian Gradišće, Slovenian Gradiščansko) is the easternmost state or Land of Austria. ... Vienna (German: Wien [viːn]; Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian: Beč, Czech: Vídeň, Hungarian: Bécs, Romanian: Viena, Romani: Bech or Vidnya, Russian: Вена, Slovak: Viedeň, Slovenian: Dunaj) is the capital of Austria, and also one of the nine States of Austria. ... Combatants Allies: Serbia, Russia, France, Romania, Belgium, British Empire, United States, Italy, and others Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Ottoman Empire Casualties Military dead: 5 million Civilian deaths: 3 million Total of dead: 8 million Military dead: 4 million Civilian deaths: 3 million Total dead: 7 million The First... The Kingdom of Hungary (Hungarian: Magyar Királyság) is the name of a multiethnic kingdom that existed in Central Europe from 1000 to 1918. ... German (called Deutsch in German; in German the term germanisch is equivalent to English Germanic), is a member of the western group of Germanic languages and is one of the worlds major languages. ... The neutrality of this introduction is disputed. ... Conservatism or political conservatism is any of several historically related political philosophies or political ideologies. ...

Landform regions

Detailed map of Austria

Satellite photo of the Alps

Geographic coordinates: 47°20′N 13°20′E Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2500x1706, 2202 KB) Austria. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2500x1706, 2202 KB) Austria. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1000x773, 143 KB) Alps - satellite view (NASA, German Wikipedia) Source: an original image from NASA Visible Earth File links The following pages link to this file: Geography of Austria ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1000x773, 143 KB) Alps - satellite view (NASA, German Wikipedia) Source: an original image from NASA Visible Earth File links The following pages link to this file: Geography of Austria ...

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 the Pannonian plain, and north of the River Danube lies the Böhmerwald, an older, but lower, granite mountain range. The Pannonian Plain is a large plain in Central Europe that remained when the Pliocene Pannonian Sea (see below) dried out. ... The Šumava is a low mountain range in Central Europe. ... Quarrying granite for the Mormon Temple, Utah Territory. ...

River Danube

The Danube has its source near Donaueschingen in southwestern Germany and flows through Austria before emptying into the Black Sea. 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 the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal in Bavaria, which connects the Rhine and Main rivers with the Danube and makes barge traffic from the North Sea to the Black Sea possible. The Danube bend at Visegrád is a popular destination of tourists The Danube (German: Donau, Slovak: Dunaj, Hungarian: Duna, Slovenian: Donava, Croatian: Dunav, Serbian: Дунав/Dunav, , Bulgarian: Дунав (Dunav), Romanian: Dunăre, Ukrainian: , Latin: Danuvius), all ultimately derived from the PIE *dānu, meaning river or stream, is Europes second... Donaueschingen is a city in the southwest of Baden-Württemberg in the Schwarzwald-Baar District. ... Map of the Black Sea. ... the Rhine-Main Danube Canal (in the foreground) near Nuremberg The Rhine-Main-Danube Canal (also called Main-Danube Canal, RMD Canal or Europa Canal) connects the Main and Danube from Bamberg by Nuremberg to Regensburg. ... The Free State of Bavaria  (German: Freistaat Bayern), with an area of 70,553 km² (27,241 square miles) and 12. ... Loreley At 1,320 kilometres (820 miles) and an average discharge of more than 2,000 cubic meters per second, the Rhine (German Rhein, French Rhin, Dutch Rijn, Romansch: Rein, Italian: Reno) is one of the longest and most important rivers in Europe. ... Map showing the position of the Main in Germany The Main (pronounced in FUCKKKK GERmany! German like the English word mine) is a river in Germany, 524 km long (including White Main 574 km), and one of the more significant tributaries of the Rhine river. ... Self propelled barge carrying bulk crushed stone A barge is a flat-bottomed boat, built mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods. ... The North Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, located between the coasts of Norway and Denmark in the east, the coast of the British Isles in the west, and the German, Dutch, Belgian and French coasts in the south. ...

The major rivers north of the watershed of the Austrian Alps (the Inn in Tyrol, the Salzach in Salzburg, and the Enns 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 (the Gail and Drau rivers in Carinthia and the Mürz and Mur rivers in Styria) flow south into the drainage system of the Drau, which eventually empties into the Danube in Serbia. 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. The Inn is a river in Switzerland, Austria and Germany. ... The Salzach is a river in Austria. ... Enns is a river in Austria. ... Gail is the name of a river in southern Austria. ... Drave (German: Drau, Slovenian and Croatian: Drava, Hungarian: Dráva) is a river in southern Central Europe, flowing East from Alto Adige, Italy through Carinthia, Austria, and Slovenia (145 km) then southeast, forming most of the Croatian-Hungarian border before joining the Danube near Osijek. ... The Mürz is a river in Austria. ... Mura (German Mur) is a river in Central Europe, a subsidiary of the bigger Drava and subsequently Danube. ... Serbia and Montenegro  â€“ Serbia      â€“ Vojvodina   â€“ Montenegro Kosovo (UN administration) Official language Serbian1 Capital Belgrade Area (not including data for Kosovo) – Total – % water 77. ...

The Alps

Three major ranges of the Alps — the Northern Calcareous Alps, Central Alps, and Southern Calcareous Alps — run west to east through Austria. The Central Alps, which consist largely of a granite base, are the largest and highest ranges in Austria. The Central Alps run from Tyrol to approximately the Styria-Lower Austria border and include areas that are permanently glaciated in the Ötztal Alps on the Tyrolean–Italian border and the Hohe Tauern in East Tyrol and Carinthia. 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 predominantly limestone and dolomite. At 3,797 m, Großglockner is the highest mountain in Austria. As a general rule, the farther east the Northern and Central Alps run, the lower they become. The altitude of the mountains also drops north and south of the central ranges. The West face of the Petit Dru above the Chamonix valley near the Mer de Glace. ... The Northern Limestone Alps are the ranges of the Eastern Alps north of the Central Eastern Alps. ... The Central Eastern Alps are the core ranges of the Eastern Alps with the highest peaks, located between the Northern Limestone Alps and the Southern Limestone Alps, from which they differ in geological composition. ... The Southern Limestone Alps are the ranges of the Eastern Alps south of the Central Eastern Alps. ... The Ötztal Alps (Ger. ... The High Tauern (German Hohe Tauern) is the highest range of the Alps in Austria. ... East Tyrol is an exclave of the Austrian state of Tyrol, sharing no border with North Tyrol, the main part of the state. ... Limey shale overlaid by limestone. ... Dolomite crystals from Touissite, Morocco Dolomite is the name of both a carbonate rock and a mineral (formula: CaMg(CO3)2) consisting of a calcium magnesium carbonate found in crystals. ... Großglockner is, at 3798 m above sea level, Austrias highest mountain and the highest mountain in the Alps east of the Brenner Pass. ...

As a geographic feature, the Alps literally overshadow other landform regions. 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. 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. Austria's least mountainous landscape is southeast of the low Leithagebirge, which forms the southern lip of the Viennese Basin, where the steppe of the Hungarian Plain begins. The Viennese Basin (German: Wiener Becken, Czech: Vídenská kotlina, Slovak: Viedenská kotlina) is a tectonic basin between the Alps and the Carpathian Mountains. ...

Bohemian Forest

The granite massif of the Bohemian Forest (known in German as the Böhmerwald), 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. Quarrying granite for the Mormon Temple, Utah Territory. ... The Šumava is a low mountain range in Central Europe. ...

Human geography

Annotated satellite map of Austria

Bad Kleinkirchheim, Carinthia, Austria

Landeck in Tyrol, Austria

The ruins of Aggstein Castle, Lower Austria

Land-use patterns in Austria change from Alpine to non-Alpine regions. Approximately one-tenth of Austria is barren or unproductive, that is, extremely Alpine or above the tree line. Just over 40% of Austria is covered by forestry, the majority of which is in Alpine regions. Less than one-fifth of Austria is arable and suitable for conventional agriculture. The percentage of arable land in Austria increases in the East as the country becomes less alpine. More than one-fifth of Austria is pasture and meadow located at varying altitudes. Almost half of this grassland consists of high Alpine pastures. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2550x1381, 1251 KB) Summary Description: Satellite image of Austria with provincial capitals and other annotations Source: The image is based on a satellite image from [1]. Original image: Credit Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC. Date: 2005-Sep-11... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2550x1381, 1251 KB) Summary Description: Satellite image of Austria with provincial capitals and other annotations Source: The image is based on a satellite image from [1]. Original image: Credit Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC. Date: 2005-Sep-11... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2272x1704, 1485 KB) Bad Kleinkirchheim, Carinthia, Austria Taken August 2005 by User:Popie File links The following pages link to this file: Geography of Austria Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2272x1704, 1485 KB) Bad Kleinkirchheim, Carinthia, Austria Taken August 2005 by User:Popie File links The following pages link to this file: Geography of Austria Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to... Carinthia (German Kärnten, Slovenian Koroška) is an Austrian state or Land, located in the south of Austria. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1495x1000, 1847 KB) Source: Pflatsch Description: Stadtgemeinde Landeck in Tirol - Österreich; Blick Richtung Westen; aufgenommen von Pflatsch, am 25. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1495x1000, 1847 KB) Source: Pflatsch Description: Stadtgemeinde Landeck in Tirol - Österreich; Blick Richtung Westen; aufgenommen von Pflatsch, am 25. ... View of Landeck Landeck is a city in Tyrol, Austria with approximately 7,501 inhabitants. ... The Tyrol is a historical region in Western Central Europe, which includes the Austrian state of Tyrol (consisting of North Tyrol and East Tyrol) and the Italian regions known as the South Tyrol and Trentino. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2592x1944, 865 KB) de:Burgruine Aggstein, Niederösterreich, Aufnahmedatum: 2005-05-22, 2522x1944 Pixel, Camera Sony DSC-P200, Foto selbst aufgenommen. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2592x1944, 865 KB) de:Burgruine Aggstein, Niederösterreich, Aufnahmedatum: 2005-05-22, 2522x1944 Pixel, Camera Sony DSC-P200, Foto selbst aufgenommen. ... Map of Lower Austria showing districts and the four quarters (Waldviertel in green, Weinviertel in red, Mostviertel in yellow and Industrieviertel in blue) Lower Austria (de: Niederösterreich) is one of the nine states or Länder in Austria. ... In this view of an alpine tree-line, the distant line looks particularly sharp. ... A decidous beech forest in Slovenia. ... In geography, arable land is a form of agricultural land use, meaning land that can be (and is) used for growing crops. ... An Inner Mongolian Grassland. ...

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. Many of the high pastures are at altitudes of more than 1,000 m. The metre, or meter, is a measure of length. ...

Although agriculture in mountainous areas was at one time economically viable, in recent decades it has survived only with the help of extensive subsidies. A concern of farmers in these mountainous regions is that membership of the European Union might entail a curtailment of these subsidies and the end of Alpine agriculture. If this occurs, many areas will be reclaimed by nature after centuries of cultivation.

Although the Alps are beautiful, they make many areas of Austria uninhabitable. 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. 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. Square kilometre (US spelling: Square kilometer), symbol km², is an SI unit of surface area. ...

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 Inn River in Tyrol; Salzburg on the Salzach River in Salzburg; and Klagenfurt on the Gail River in Carinthia. The higher the Alps are, the less inhabitable they become in terms of soil, microclimate, and vegetation. Conversely, the lower and broader the Alpine valleys are, the more densely populated they become.

Tyrol illustrates most clearly the relationship between Alpine geography and habitation. 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%.

Because of the Alps, the country as a whole is one of the least densely populated states of Western and Central Europe. With ninety-three inhabitants per square kilometer, Austria has a population density similar to that of the former Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia (Jugoslavija in all south Slavic languages, in Serbian and Macedonian Cyrillic Југославија) is a term used for three separate but successive political entities that existed during most of the 20th century on the Balkan Peninsula in Europe. ...

Austria's national borders and geography have corresponded very little. Since the fall of the Roman Empire, the Alps and the Danube have not served to mark political boundaries. Even within Austria, provincial borders were only occasionally set by the ranges and ridges of the Alps. The Roman Empire is not the Holy Roman Empire (843-1806). ...

Although the Alps did not mark political boundaries, they often separated groups of people from one another. Because in the past the Alps were impassable, inhabitants isolated in valleys or networks of valleys developed distinct regional subcultures. 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. Differences were great enough that the origins of outsiders could easily be identified. 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.

Despite the Alps, Austria has historically been a land of transit. The Danube valley, for centuries Central Europe's aquatic link to the Balkan Peninsula and the "Orient" in the broadest sense of the word, has always been an avenue of east-west transit. However, Europe's division into two opposing economic and military blocs after World War II diminished Austria's importance as a place of transit. Since the opening of Eastern Europe in 1989, the country has begun to reassume its historical role. By the early 1990s, it had already experienced a substantial increase in the number of people and vehicles crossing its eastern frontiers. Regions of Europe Central Europe is the region lying between the variously and vaguely defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe. ... The Balkans is the historic and geographic name used to describe southeastern Europe (see the Definitions and boundaries section below). ... The term the Orient - literally meaning sunrise, east - is traditionally used to refer to Near, Middle, and Far Eastern countries. ... Combatants Allies: Poland, British Commonwealth, France/Free France, Soviet Union, United States, China, and others Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan, and others Casualties Military dead: 17 million Civilian dead: 33 million Total dead: 50 million Military dead: 8 million Civilian dead: 4 million Total dead: 12 million World War II... Current division of Europe into five (or more) regions: one definition of Eastern Europe is marked in orange Eastern Europe as a region has several alternative definitions, whereby it can denote: the region lying between the variously and vaguely defined areas of Central Europe and Russia. ...

Within the Alps, four passes and the roads that run through them are of particular importance for north-south transit. The Semmering Pass on the provincial border of Lower Austria and Styria connects the Viennese Basin with the Mürz and Mur valleys, thus providing northeast-southwest access to Styria and Slovenia, and, via Carinthia, to Italy. The Semmering is a mountain pass in the Eastern Northern Limestone Alps connecting Lower Austria and Styria between which it forms a natural border. ...

The Pyrhn Pass between the provinces of Upper Austria and Styria and the Tauern Pass between the Hohe Tauern range and the Niedere Tauern range of the Central Alps in Salzburg, provide access to the Mur Valley in Styria and the Drau Valley in Carinthia, respectively. The highways that run through these passes are important northwest-southeast lines of communication through the Alps. The Pyrhn highway has been nicknamed the Fremdarbeiterweg ("foreign workers' route") because millions of Gastarbeiter ("guest workers") in Germany use it to return to their homes in the Balkans and Turkey for vacation. Many Germans and northern Europeans also use it in the summer months to reach the Adriatic coast. 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 and Hungary. The High Tauern (German Hohe Tauern) is the highest range of the Alps in Austria. ... The Niedere Tauern (from the German for low Tauern; compare Hohe Tauern) are a mountain range in central Austria, part of the Central Eastern Alps. ... Gastarbeiter is a German word that literally means Guest Worker. It referred to people who had moved to Germany for jobs since the end of World War II, but is considered outdated. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... A satellite image of the Adriatic Sea. ...

The most important pass in the Austrian Alps is the Brenner Pass, located on the Austrian-Italian border in Tyrol. At 1,370 m, it is one of the lowest Alpine passes. 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. The Brenner Pass (Italian Passo del Brennero) is a mountain pass that creates a link through the Tyrolean Alps along the current border between the nations of Austria and Italy, one of the principal passes of the Alps. ...

Natural resources: iron ore, oil, timber, magnesite, lead, coal, lignite, copper, hydropower This heap of iron ore pellets will be used in steel production. ... It has been suggested that black gold (oil) be merged into this article or section. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Lumber. ... Magnesite is magnesium carbonate, MgCO3. ... General Name, Symbol, Number lead, Pb, 82 Chemical series poor metals Group, Period, Block 14, 6, p Appearance bluish white Atomic mass 207. ... Coal (previously referred to as pitcoal or seacoal) is a fossil fuel extracted from the ground by underground mining or open-pit mining (surface mining). ... Coal Coal is a fossil fuel extracted from the ground by mining. ... General Name, Symbol, Number copper, Cu, 29 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 11, 4, d Appearance metallic brown Atomic mass 63. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Land use:
arable land: 17%
permanent crops: 1%
permanent pastures: 23%
forests and woodland: 39%
other: 20% (1996 est.)

Irrigated land: 40 km² (1993 est.)

Climate

Heralding the oncoming winter, snow dusts the peaks of the Alps on December 11, 2004. North of the Alps, clouds cover France, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, and Slovenia. South of the Alps, clear skies dominate most of the image, leaving the Po River valley and peninsular Italy showing clearly. To the southwest, the Ligurian and Mediterranean Seas are an almost uniform deep blue color; to the southeast, the Adriatic Sea features swirls of blue-green microscopic sea organisms (likely phytoplankton and algae), as well as some green-tan sediment from rivers emptying into the sea.

The Alps serve as a watershed for Europe's three major kinds of weather systems that influence Austrian weather. The Atlantic maritime climate from the northwest is characterized by low pressure fronts, mild air from the Gulf Stream, and precipitation. It has the greatest influence on the northern slopes of the Alps, the Northern Alpine Foreland, and the Danube valley. The continental climate is characterized by low pressure fronts with precipitation in summer and high pressure systems with cold and dry air in winter. It affects mainly eastern Austria. 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. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2400x1800, 1366 KB) en: Heralding the oncoming winter, snow dusts the peaks of the Alps in this true-color Terra MODIS image from December 11, 2004. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2400x1800, 1366 KB) en: Heralding the oncoming winter, snow dusts the peaks of the Alps in this true-color Terra MODIS image from December 11, 2004. ... Watershed has more than one meaning: Look up watershed in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For the album by Ocean Colour Scene, see North Atlantic Drift (album) The Gulf Stream is orange and yellow in this representation of water temperatures of the Atlantic. ...

One peculiarity of the Mediterranean weather systems is the föhn wind, a warm air mass that originates in the African Sahara and moves north rapidly, periodically raising temperatures up to 10°C in a short period of time. Many people respond to this rapid weather change with headaches, irritability, and circulatory problems. During the winter, the rapid warming that accompanies a föhn can thaw the snow cover in the Alps to such an extent that avalanches occur. A föhn wind or foehn wind occurs when a deep layer of prevailing wind is forced over a mountain range. ... A headache (medically known as cephalgia) is a condition of mild to severe pain in the head; sometimes neck or upper back pain may also be interpreted as a headache. ... Irritability is an irregularly updated web comic by Mike E. Woodson. ... The circulatory system or cardiovascular system is the organ system which circulates blood around the body of most animals. ... A Himalayan avalanche. ...

Given the importance of Alpine skiing for the Austrian tourist industry, December is the month during which the weather is watched with the greatest anticipation. As a rule, Atlantic maritime weather systems bring snow, and continental weather systems help keep it. However, a predominance of cold, dry continental systems or warm Mediterranean ones inevitably postpone the beginning of the ski season. In the summer, Mediterranean high-pressure systems bring warm, sunny weather. Members of the US Air Force skiing (and snowboarding) at Keystone Resorts 14th Annual SnoFest An alpine skier Deep powder skiing Skiing is the activity of gliding over snow using skis (originally wooden planks, now usually made from fiberglass or related composites) strapped to the feet with ski bindings. ...

Ecological concerns

Austrians face a number of ecological problems in the 1990s. One of the most pressing is the pollution caused by the staggering increase of traffic through the country. 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. One quarter of the traffic crossing Austria consists of semitrailers used for heavy transport. The opening of Eastern Europe has only exacerbated the problem of transit traffic.

The Alpine valleys through which much of this traffic passes are unusually vulnerable to ecological damage. Narrow valleys are not conducive to dissipation of noise or pollutants caused by motor vehicles. 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.

Austria has negotiated with the EU to set limits on the amount of commercial transit traffic, especially through Tyrol. 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. Environmentalists have pushed for measures that are more far-reaching. They advocate, for example, digging a tunnel from Garmisch-Partenkirchen in southern Germany to Bozen-Bolzano in northern Italy. Garmisch-Partenkirchen (29,875 inhabitants; 01-01-2004) is a market town, and the administrative centre of the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in the Oberbayern region of Bavaria, Germany, near the border with Austria. ... Coat of Arms Bozen (German) or Bolzano (Italian) is a city in the South Tyrol region of Italy; its 2001 population was 94,989, and the area of the municipality is 52. ...

Pollution is also brought by the weather systems that determine the country's climate. Atlantic maritime weather systems carry pollution into Austria from northwestern Europe. 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. Mediterranean weather systems transmit industrial pollutants from northern Italy.

As a result of domestic and foreign pollution, 37% of Austria's forests had been damaged by acid rain and/or pollutant emissions by 1991. 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, or flooding caused by runoff. Acid rain occurs when sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are emitted into the atmosphere, undergo chemical transformations and are absorbed by water droplets in clouds. ... Severe soil erosion in a wheat field near Washington State University, USA. Erosion is the displacement of solids (soil, mud, rock, and other particles) by the agents of wind, water, ice, movement in response to gravity, or living organisms (in the case of bioerosion). ... Mudslide in La Conchita, California A mudslide is a landslide of mud. ... A flood (in Old English flod, a word common to Teutonic languages; compare German Flut, Dutch vloed from the same root as is seen in flow, float) is an overflow of water, an expanse of water submerging land, a deluge. ...

The seriousness of the ecological problems confronting the country gave rise in the 1970s to an environmentalist movement. Political parties were formed, and representatives were elected to parliament. A referendum in 1978 closed down a newly completed nuclear power station and turned the country away from the exploitation of nuclear energy. Public opposition in 1984 stopped the planned construction of a hydroelectric power station in a wetlands region. A referendum (plural: referendums or referenda) or plebiscite (from Latin plebiscita, a decree of the Concilium Plebis) is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. ... A nuclear power plant (NPP) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is one or more nuclear reactors. ... Hydroelectricity is a form of hydropower used to produce electricity. ...

The country's long-standing commercial use of the Alps for recreational purposes has also come under examination. Extensive tourism places an inordinate amount of pressure on sensitive Alpine ecosystems. Ski runs damage forests, as do summer sports such as off-trail mountain hiking or mountain biking. Many Alpine villages have also grown greatly because of the tourist industry. 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. For these reasons, efforts have been made to introduce "green" or "soft" forms of tourism that are more compatible with the Alpine environment.

Part of the solution to Austria's ecological problems is being sought in stricter environmental legislation at the domestic level. Ultimately, however, pan-European and global cooperation in the realm of pollution and emission control will be necessary to protect the country's environment.

Environment - current issues: some forest degradation caused by air and soil pollution; soil pollution results from the use of agricultural 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 Water pollution Pollution is the release of environmental contaminants. ...

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 For the Antarctic Treaty from the Gundam anime, see Antarctic Treaty (Gundam) The Antarctic Treaty and related agreements, collectively called the Antarctic Treaty System or ATS, regulate the international relations with respect to Antarctica, Earths only uninhabited continent. ... Ship stranded by the retreat of the Aral Sea Desertification is the degradation of land in arid, semi arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors including climatic variations and human activities. ... Kyoto Protocol Opened for signature December 11, 1997 in Kyoto, Japan Entered into force February 16, 2005. ...

Area and boundaries

Area:

• Total: 83,858 km²
• Land: 82,738 km²
• Water: 1,120 km²

Area comparative

• Australia comparative: slightly smaller than Tasmania
• China comparative: about half of Jiangxi
• Canada comparative: larger than New Brunswick
• United Kingdom comparative: slightly larger than Scotland
• United States comparative: slightly smaller than Maine

Emblems: Flora Tasmanian Blue Gum Fauna none Motto: Ubertas et Fidelitas (Fertility and Faithfulness) Slogan or Nickname: The Apple Isle Other Australian states and territories Capital Hobart Government Governor Premier Const. ... Jiangxi (Chinese: 江西; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Chiang-hsi; Postal System Pinyin: Kiangsi) is a southern province of the Peoples Republic of China, spanning from the banks of the Yangtze River in the north into hillier areas in the south. ... Motto: Spem reduxit (Hope restored) Official languages English, French Capital Fredericton Largest city Saint John Lieutenant-Governor Herménégilde Chiasson Premier Bernard Lord (PC) Parliamentary representation  - House seat  - Senate seats 10 10 Area Total  â€¢ Land  â€¢ Water    (% of total)  Ranked 11th 72 908 km² 71 450 km² 1 458 km... Motto: Nemo me impune lacessit (English: No one provokes me with impunity) Scotlands location within Europe Scotlands location within the United Kingdom Languages English, Gaelic, Scots Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow First Minister Jack McConnell Area - Total - % water Ranked 2nd UK 78,782 km² 1. ... Official language(s) None Capital Augusta Largest city Portland Area  - Total   - Width   - Length    - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 39th 33,414 sq mi  86,542 km² 190 miles  305 km 320 miles  515 km 13. ...

Extreme points

• Highest point: Großglockner, at 3798 m, 47°4′30″N, 12°41′40″E
• Lowest point: Neusiedler See, at 115 m, 47°52′N 16°45′E
• Westernmost point: River Rhine near Bangs, Vorarlberg, 47°16′16″N, 9°31′51″E, but note that the international borders betwen Austria, Germany and Switzerland are not agreed for Lake Constance.
• Westernmost settlement: Bangs, Vorarlberg, 47°15′56″N, 9°32′42″E
• Easternmost point: the corner of a field near Deutsch Jahrndorf, Burgenland, 48°0′24″N, 17°9′38″E
• Easternmost settlement: Deutsch Jahrndorf, Burgenland, 48°0′37″N, 17°6′33″E
• Northernmost point: the Neumühlbach stream, near Rottal, Upper Austria, 49°1′14″N, 15°1′16″E
• Northernmost settlement: Haugschlag, Upper Austria, 48°59′51″N, 15°3′32″E
• Southernmost point: in the Steiner Alpen, Carinthia, between the Seeländer Sattel and the Sanntaler Sattel, at an altitude of more than 2000m, 46°22′21″N, 14°33′55″E
• Southernmost settlement: Bad Vellach, Carinthia, 46°25′37″N, 14°32′58″E
• Furthest point from any international border: near Gstatterboden, in the Gesäuse National Park, Styria, over 100 km from any border, 47°35′30″N, 14°38′0″E

Image File history File links Download high resolution version (820x450, 46 KB) Summary The extreme points of Austria. ... Großglockner is, at 3798 m above sea level, Austrias highest mountain and the highest mountain in the Alps east of the Brenner Pass. ... A storks nest typical for the region The Neusiedler See (Hungarian: FertÅ‘) is the only steppe lake in Central Europe and is located at the border between Austria and Hungary. ... Loreley At 1,320 kilometres (820 miles) and an average discharge of more than 2,000 cubic meters per second, the Rhine (German Rhein, French Rhin, Dutch Rijn, Romansch: Rein, Italian: Reno) is one of the longest and most important rivers in Europe. ... Vorarlberg is the westernmost federal state of Austria. ... Map of the Bodensee; Schweiz is Switzerland, Deutschland is Germany, and Osterreich is Austria. ... Burgenland (Hungarian Várvidék, Őrvidék or FelsÅ‘Å‘rvidék, Croatian Gradišće, Slovenian Gradiščansko) is the easternmost state or Land of Austria. ... Upper Austria (Ober sterreich) is one of the nine federal states or Bundesl nder of Austria. ... The Kamnik Alps (Slovene KamniÅ¡ke alpe, German Steiner Alpen or Sulzbacher Alpen) are a mountain range, part of the Southern Limestone Alps in north Slovenia and at the border of Austria. ... Carinthia (German Kärnten, Slovenian KoroÅ¡ka) is an Austrian state or Land, located in the south of Austria. ... The Gesäuse National Park is an IUCN category II national park in Styria, Austria. ... Styria (die Steiermark in German, Å tajerska in Slovenian) is a state or Land, located in the south east of Austria. ... A kilometre (American spelling: kilometer), symbol: km is a unit of length in the metric system equal to 1000 metres (from the Greek words χίλια (khilia) = thousand and μέτρο (metro) = count/measure). ...

References

• This article contains material from the Library of Congress Country Studies which, as a United States government publication, is in the public domain.
• This article contains material from the CIA World Factbook which, as a US government publication, is in the public domain. (2000)