As of 1 January, the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG) and the Geological Survey of Austria (GBA) were merged to form GeoSphere Austria (GSA). The new "Federal Institute for Geology, Geophysics, Climatology and Meteorology" brings together the expertise of two research institutions that had been operating separately for over 150 years.

The merger took place against the backdrop of advancing climate change and the need to protect residential areas and infrastructure from increasingly frequent extreme weather events and natural hazards, to make raw material extraction more sustainable, and to protect groundwater.

The GSA is intended to contribute "to increasing overall national resilience and crisis preparedness, to improving the operational readiness of authorities and emergency organisations in the event of disasters, to safeguarding Austria's geological, geophysical, climatological and meteorological foundations for life and the economy, to a precaution-based approach to climate change and its consequences, and to Austria's sustainable development", as stated in the relevant legislation establishing the GSA.

Find out more at: science.orf.at or "Die Zamg schlägt ein neues Kapitel auf" in kleinezeitung.at