ABSTRACT
Snow avalanches are shear flows consisting of hard snow granules, smaller ice-snow fragments and icedust (Fig. 1). Depending on the snow properties, mainly the temperature and moisture content, different avalanche flow types are possible. A longstanding problem in snow avalanche engineering is to predict avalanche runout distances and velocities in general three-dimensional terrain. This requires an understanding of how different flow regimes emerge as a function of snow properties and therefore climatic conditions. In future, avalanche dynamics models must reflect the variability of the natural snow conditions to improve the accuracy of model calculations.
