The Vernagtferner region has a long tradition of glaciological research performed by groups from Munich. It started in 1889, when Prof. Sebastian Finsterwalder from the Technical University in Munich produced the first map of a complete glacier based on terrestrial photogrammetry. Since then, numerous maps of the glacier have been made, describing the change in surface elevation for more than a century. These maps form the basis of the geodetic method of glacier mass balance determination, which provides volume changes as average data for the period between two surveys, i.e. typically for 10 years. Since the start of the glaciological method on Vernagtferner in 1964, annual as well as winter and summer mass balance data are available continuously. But only since 1973, the construction of the Vernagtbach station, approximately 1 km below the glacier margin at that time, provided the means to record a larger number of hydrological and meteorological parameters with a temporal resolution of typically 1 hour.

An energy balance station has been operating in the immediate vicinity of the Defreggerhaus since August 2020.

In November 2001, two separate Campbell loggers ("Meteologger" and "Hydrologger", both type CR23X) were installed at the Vernagtbach site in the Oetztal Alps, Austria (Latitude: 46.85; Longitude: 10.82; Elevation: 2640 m). On these loggers, 10-minutes centred averages for the meteorological data and 5-minutes centred averages for the hydrological data are recorded. The meteorological parameters comprise air temperature, humidity of the air, air pressure, four radiation components, wind direction and speed, precipitation and snow height. For air temperature, two records are published, recorded with a ventilated and an unventilated Pt-100 in a Stevenson screen; for precipitation, three time series are available: (I) the cumulative record of a weighing gauge for the whole year, (II) single events derived from (I), and (III) single events from a tipping bucket; (II) and (III) are only provided for the period 1, May to 31, October of each year. Wind records are also given with a time step of one hour, as only these records include several statistics of speed and direction. Hydrological parameters are recorded on the "Hydrologger", they comprise water stage, discharge, water temperature and electrolytic conductivity of the water. An identifying number gives the kind of instrument used in the water stage time series. Daily photographs of the glacier are provided and analysed with respect to precipitation type.

In 2019, an automatic weather station was built on behalf of the hydrographic service Salzburg. This station is energy self-sufficient. At this station, air temperature, humidity, air pressure, wind strenght, wind direction, snowdepth, irradiation and radiationare measured.

The meteorological sensors are located on the roof of the main building of the Biological Station (N 47,7691; E 16,7662; Position (elevation): 122 msl) in the close vicinity of Lake Neusiedl. The parameters that are on-line recoded every 15 minutes are as follows: Air humidity (%RH), Global radiation (W/m²), Air temperature (°C), Wind speed ([Average] (km/h), Wind direction (°), Rain yearly (mm), Precipitation (mm); time resolution: 15 minutes. There are also two traditional weather stations at the station and on the jetty, which are maintained by the Hydrolographic Service Burgenland and enable parameters such as temperature, humidity, precipitation and water level to be recorded. In addition to the Adcon weather station on the roof of the station, there are currently 3 other stations in operation in Seewinkel. These positions are: • Unterer Stinkersee (N 47,8018; E 16,7842) • Neudegg (N 47,7029; E 16,8098) • Östliche Fuchslochlacke (N 47,7907; E 16,8624)