Abstract
Abstract. Avalanche hazard assessment requires a very precise estimation of the release area, which still depends, to a large extent, on expert judgement of avalanche specialists. Therefore, a new algorithm for automated identification of potential avalanche release areas was developed. It overcomes some of the limitations of previous tools, which are currently not often applied in hazard mitigation practice. By introducing a multi-scale roughness parameter, fine-scale topography and its attenuation under snow influence is captured. This allows the assessment of snow influence on terrain morphology and, consequently, potential release area size and location. The integration of a wind shelter index enables the user to define release area scenarios as a function of the prevailing wind direction or single storm events. A case study illustrates the practical usefulness of this approach for the definition of release area scenarios under varying snow cover and wind conditions. A validation with historical data demonstrated an improved estimation of avalanche release areas. Our method outperforms a slope-based approach, in particular for more frequent avalanches; however, the application of the algorithm as a forecasting tool remains limited, as snowpack stability is not integrated. Future research activity should therefore focus on the coupling of the algorithm with snowpack conditions.
Highlights
Location and extent of avalanche starting zones are of crucial importance in order to correctly estimate the potential danger that avalanches pose to roads, railways and other infrastructure
In current engineering practice for hazard mapping and planning of long-term mitigation measures, release area size is a key input in numerical models of avalanche dynamics such as RAMMS (Christen et al, 2010) or SAMOSAT (Sampl and Granig, 2009; Sampl and Zwinger, 2004)
With increasing availability of geographic information systems (GISs) and digital terrain models (DEMs), the development of algorithms centred on automating the process of release area definition has been attempted
Summary
Location and extent of avalanche starting zones are of crucial importance in order to correctly estimate the potential danger that avalanches pose to roads, railways and other infrastructure. In current engineering practice for hazard mapping and planning of long-term mitigation measures, release area size is a key input in numerical models of avalanche dynamics such as RAMMS (Christen et al, 2010) or SAMOSAT (Sampl and Granig, 2009; Sampl and Zwinger, 2004). They allow the assessment of run-out, velocity, flow height or impact pressure of avalanches, and are especially important when historical data are sparse or completely lacking. Some authors use additional snow meteorological parameters such as the duration of snow cover (Pistocchi and Notarnicola, 2013)
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