Lawinenforschung

Johan Gaume is a professor at ETH Zurich and the new group leader of snow and avalanche research at the SLF in Davos. He is also a pretty gifted snowboarder! Gaume combines his hobby and profession with avalanche research. His research plays a major role in the development of 3D snowboard simulations and is of great interest to ski tourers and freeriders.

The "Schnee.Semmelnare" of the Austrian Society for Snow and Avalanches (ÖGSL) opens the new winter season with exciting, international lectures on the topic of snow and avalanches. The lectures take place monthly, are recorded online and are available for streaming on YouTube or on the ÖGSL website. Take a look!

The SLF observers monitor and assess the current situation in their area and transmit the observations to the SLF (WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF). The data collected forms part of the basis for the daily avalanche bulletin. I was allowed to accompany Reto, one of the observers, for a day and look over his shoulder.

In the monthly "schnee.semmelnar" of the Austrian Society for Snow and Avalanches (ÖGSL), avalanche researcher Johan Gaume will be appearing next Monday to explain (in English) what "supershear avalanches" are and what a better understanding of the trigger mechanisms means for risk management.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are the buzzwords of the moment in many areas and have been for the last few years. Corresponding techniques are also increasingly being used in snow and avalanche research. What exactly is AI, what are its concrete applications and what are the benefits?

You can describe snow and avalanches using physics. In order to understand a snowpack, thermodynamics is required above all, which describes the partial pressures and transformation processes of the crystals. The triggering of an avalanche requires a description of the mechanical properties of the snowpack and fluid dynamics are used for its propagation. However, science can sometimes be quite dry. That's why today we are presenting videos that make the subject matter more digestible.

Silke Griesser wrote her master's thesis on force measurements in compression tests (CT) and presented the results as part of the monthly ÖGSL lectures. As usual, you can watch the video of the lecture and the subsequent Q&A session on YouTube.

A recent SLF study uses GPS tracks from the Skitourenguru.ch database to correlate avalanche accidents with the number of accident-free ascents. This makes it possible to calculate which danger levels and terrain characteristics are particularly risky. There are some interesting differences to the reduction factors known from the Munter reduction method.

A subjective selection of current studies in the field of snow and avalanches, this time with a focus on the connection between avalanche frequency and climate change. For those who want to read further, the scientific publications are linked in the text.

Short version of the forecast: The next few days will be very, very warm. Still wet today, then mostly sunny. Cooling with the option of snow down to low altitudes, probably at the beginning of next week.

In his recently completed dissertation, SLF avalanche forecaster Frank Techel investigated how well avalanche bulletins reflect the actual danger situation and whether they are consistent across different regions and areas of responsibility of individual warning services. In this interview, he explains more about his work and his unusual career path.

Every two years, the International Snow Science Workshop (ISSW) brings together scientists and practitioners from a wide range of different, but always snow-related, subject areas. New findings and research results are presented in various thematic blocks - so-called sessions. We break the whole thing down into more or less digestible morsels and summarize the sessions of the ISSW2018 for you every two weeks.