Item: A new approach to avalanche risk assessment in Russia
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Title: A new approach to avalanche risk assessment in Russia
Proceedings: International Snow Science Workshop Proceedings 2018, Innsbruck, Austria
Authors:
- Anton Komarov [ Faculty of Geography, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russian Federation ]
- Yuri Seliverstov [ Faculty of Geography, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russian Federation ]
- Alla Turchaninova [ Faculty of Geography, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russian Federation ]
- Sergey Sokratov [ Faculty of Geography, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russian Federation ]
Date: 2018-10-07
Abstract: Snow avalanches pose a challenging problem in many mountain regions of Russia. The expansion of infrastructure and therefore the increased avalanche risk demands the elaboration of risk assessment methods in planning of mitigation measures. The researchers from MSU Laboratory of snow avalanches and debris flows have been developing methods of natural hazard risk assessment in order to estimate the potential social and economic losses at different scales. More precise and accurate calculations are required for risk evaluation in rapidly developing mountain territories. Thus, we have developed a new method, that can be used to estimate snow avalanche risk at large scale. It includes quantification of full social and individual risk values for ski resorts and other types of mountain infrastructure. It also can be used for risk estimations within separate ski pistes and their particular parts. In this research, we present the results of potential avalanche risk assessment for avalanches with different return periods within Russian ski resorts Rosa Khutor (Caucasus) and Big Wood (Khibiny). We take into account such parameters as the area of avalanche-prone territory, the duration of resort functioning during the year and the day, the number and distribution of visitors within the study area, the configuration of trails etc. Zoning of the territory and allocation of areas with high risk values were performed using data obtained during two separate field observation campaigns in 2016-2017. The area of avalanche-prone territory was calculated using RAMMS model, which was found to fit this task perfectly.
Object ID: ISSW2018_O03.8.pdf
Language of Article: English
Presenter(s):
Keywords: snow avalanche, risk assessment, risk zoning, RAMMS, ski resort.
Page Number(s): 241-245
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