Item: International snow science workshop, davos 2009, proceedings
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Title: International snow science workshop, davos 2009, proceedings
Proceedings: International Snow Science Workshop, Davos 2009, Proceedings
Authors: Fabiano Monti, Anselmo Cagnati, Mauro Valt, ARPA Veneto - DRST Centro Valanghe di Arabba, Arabba (Italy)
Date: 2009
Abstract: The 2008-2009 winter season has been characterized by exceptional snowfalls in the Italian Alps; it has been one of the 3-4 snowiest seasons since 1930. Six heavy snowfalls have determined the formation of several avalanches, many of which with a return time of 20-30 years. The Avalanche Forecasting Centre in Arabba is responsible for assessing the avalanche risk in the territory of the Veneto region (Italy). In this centre the avalanche forecasting activity is supported by the research activity in order to improve and to ease the experts' job. Since 2004 is has been piloting the use of the SNOWPACK model an starting from December 2008 a new tool called Yeti NIK has been introduced to view manual snow pits. The peculiarity of this tool is its ability to assign a specific critical value to each layer in a snow pit. Threshold values are obtained according to the guidelines described by Schweizer and Jamieson (2008). The purpose of this method is to transform snow profile interpretation into semi-quantitative scientific process. In this paper the threshold sum approach has been applied to both the manual profiles and the model outputs in order to compare critical snowpack parameters obtained from these different methods. Subsequently the stability indices automatically supplied by the model proved to be reliable and the evaluation of the most critical days of winter 2008-2009 have been presented with this new experimental approach.
Presenters: Unknown
Keywords: avalanche forecasting, snow stability evaluation, snowpack stratigraphy, snowpack model
Subjects: italian alps 2008-2009 snowfal snowpack model
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Digital Abstract Not Available
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