Monitoring snowbank processes and cornice fall avalanches with time-lapse photography

Abstract

Time-lapse photography was employed to monitor a snowbank at 3640 m above sea level in the Uinta Mountains, Utah, USA. The snowbank forms against a 35-m high, east-facing escarpment and is nourished by wind redistribution of snow from an alpine plateau. The snowbank is capped by a large cornice, and its central core persists through the summer in most years. An automated, solar-powered digital camera was deployed between October 2016 and June 2017, and programmed to capture 5 photographs each day between 8:00 and 16:00, local time. Although cold temperatures affected the batteries during the winter, a total of 812 photographs were collected, for an overall average of 3.4 per day. These images were combined in an animation displaying the growth of the snowbank and associated cornice over the course of the winter. The debris fields resulting from nineteen cornice fall avalanches were noted in the sequence of photographs. Data collected at a nearby automated weather station reveal that 12 avalanches (between early December and early April) were preceded by significant increases in snow depth, snow water equivalent, and precipitation, with sustained windspeeds above the winter average. In contrast, six of the last seven events (between late April and early June) occurred in the absence of new snowfall, but were associated with rapid rises in temperature and notable decreases in snow water equivalent. The average interval between recorded avalanches is 10 days, with a maximum of 29 days and a minimum of 2 h. Recurrence intervals were shorter in December/January, in late March/early April, and in late April/early May. Only one avalanche occurred in the 56 days between 27 January and 24 March. Time-lapse photography is a powerful tool for monitoring nival processes.