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Cited by 774Landslides and related hazardsCryospheric studies and observationsTree Root and Stability Studies

Snow avalanche formation

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Schweizer, Jürg, Bruce Jamieson, J., Schneebeli, Martin·2003·Reviews of Geophysics
DOI 10.1029/2002rg000123
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Abstract

Snow avalanches are a major natural hazard, endangering human life and infrastructure in mountainous areas throughout the world. In many countries with seasonally snow‐covered mountains, avalanche‐forecasting services reliably warn the public by issuing occurrence probabilities for a certain region. However, at present, a single avalanche event cannot be predicted in time and space. Much about the release process remains unknown, mainly because of the highly variable, layered character of the snowpack, a highly porous material that exists close to its melting point. The complex interaction between terrain, snowpack, and meteorological conditions leading to avalanche release is commonly described as avalanche formation. It is relevant to hazard mapping and essential to short‐term forecasting, which involves weighting many contributory factors. Alternatively, the release process can be studied and modeled. This approach relies heavily on snow mechanics and snow properties, including texture. While the effect of meteorological conditions or changes on the deformational behavior of snow is known in qualitative or semiquantitative manner, the knowledge of the quantitative relation between snow texture and mechanical properties is limited, but promising developments are under way. Fracture mechanical models have been applied to explain the fracture propagation, and micromechanical models including the two competing processes (damage and sintering) have been applied to explain snow failure. There are knowledge gaps between the sequence of processes that lead to the release of the snow slab: snow deformation and failure, damage accumulation, fracture initiation, and fracture propagation. Simultaneously, the spatial variability that affects damage, fracture initiation, and fracture propagation has to be considered. This review focuses on dry snow slab avalanches and shows that dealing with a highly porous media close to its melting point and processes covering several orders of scale, from the size of a bond between snow grains to the size of a mountain slope, will continue to be very challenging.

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  • Recent work on delayed snow avalanches proposed a release mechanism driven by rate-dependent processes in the snow slab and weak layer, which can develop under constant loads.

    “Recent work on delayed snow avalanches 14 has proposed a release mechanism driven by rate-dependent processes in the snow slab and the weak layer 10 , which can develop under constant loads.”

    From Mechanisms of slab avalanche release and impact in the Dyatlov Pass incident in 1959 (2021) · cites this paper as [10]

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Authors
Schweizer, J., Bruce Jamieson, J., & Schneebeli, M.
Affiliations
  • WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF (CH)
  • Department of Civil Engineering and Department of Geology and Geophysics University of Calgary Calgary Alberta Canada
ORCID
Venue
Reviews of Geophysics
Publisher
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Published
2003-11-15
Volume
41
Issue
4
ISSN
  • 0096-1043 (ISSN-L)
  • 8755-1209
  • 1944-9208
DOI
10.1029/2002rg000123
OpenAlex
W2117653950
Cited by
774
References
0
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FWCI
55.74
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor (vor)
Locations
  • Reviews of Geophysics (publishedVersion)
  • DORA WSL (Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law › Landslides and related hazards
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Cryospheric studies and observations
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Forestry › Tree Root and Stability Studies
Keywords
avalanches, avalanche formation, avalanche release, snow mechanics, snow deformation, fracture propagation, damage accumulation, sintering, micromechanical modeling, fracture mechanics, snowpack, porous media, spatial variability, avalanche forecasting, hazard mapping

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