Some Perspectives on Avalanche Climatology

Abstract

Avalanche climatology is defined as the study of the relationships between climate and snow avalanches, and it contributes in aiding avalanche hazard mitigation efforts. The field has evolved over the past six decades concerning methodology, data monitoring and field collection, and interdisciplinary linkages. Avalanche climate research directions are also expanding concerning treatment in both spatial scale and temporal timescales. This article provides an overview of the main themes of avalanche climate research in issues of scale from local to global, its expanding interdisciplinary nature, as well as its future challenges and directions. The growth of avalanche climatology includes themes such as its transformation from being mostly descriptive to innovative statistical methods and modeling techniques, new challenges in microscale efforts that include depth hoar aspects and increased field studies, expanding synoptic climatology applications on studying avalanche variations, efforts to reconstruct past avalanches and relate them to climatic change, and research on potential avalanche responses to recent twentieth-century and future global warming. Some suggestions on future avalanche climatology research directions include the expansion of data networks and studies that include lesser developed countries, stronger linkages of avalanche climate studies with GIScience and remote sensing applications, more innovative linkages of avalanches with climate and societal applications, and increased emphases on modeling and process-oriented approaches.