Reply on RC2

Abstract

Snow avalanche hazard mapping has a long tradition in the European Alps. Hazard maps delineate areas of potential avalanche danger and are only available for selected areas where people and significant infrastructure are endangered. They have been created over generations, at specific sites, mainly based on avalanche activity in the past. For a large part of the area (90 % in the case of the Canton of Grisons) no maps are available. This is a problem when new territory with no or incomplete historical record is to be developed. It is an even larger problem when trying to predict the effects of climate change at the state scale where the historical record may no longer be valid. To close this gap, we develop an automated approach to generate spatial continuous hazard indication mapping based on a digital elevation model for the canton of Grisons (7105 km2) in the Swiss Alps. We calculate eight different scenarios with return periods ranging from frequent to very rare as well as with and without taking the protective effects of the forest into account. This approach combines the automated delineation of potential release areas, the calculation of release depths and the numerical simulation of the avalanche dynamics. This procedure can be applied worldwide, where high spatial resolution digital elevation models, detailed information on the forest and data on the snow climate are available, enabling reproducible hazard indication mapping also in regions where no avalanche hazard maps yet exist. This is invaluable for climate change studies. The simulation results are validated with official hazard maps, by assessments of avalanche experts and by existing avalanche cadastres derived from manual mapping and mapping based on satellite datasets. The results for the canton of Grisons are now operationally applied in the daily hazard assessment work of the authorities. Based on these experiences, the proposed approach can be applied for further mountain regions.