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Item: Towards a New Chain of Models for Avalanche Hazard Forecasting in French Mountain Ranges, Including Low Altitude Mountains

    • Title: Towards a New Chain of Models for Avalanche Hazard Forecasting in French Mountain Ranges, Including Low Altitude Mountains

      Proceedings: International Snow Science Workshop Grenoble – Chamonix Mont-Blanc - October 07-11, 2013

      Authors:

      • Matthieu Lafaysse  [ Meteo-France - CNRS, CNRM-GAME, Grenoble, France ]
      • Samuel Morin  [ Meteo-France - CNRS, CNRM-GAME, Grenoble, France ]
      • Cecile Coleou  [ Meteo-France - CNRS, CNRM-GAME, Grenoble, France ]
      • Matthieu Vernay  [ Meteo-France - CNRS, CNRM-GAME, Grenoble, France ]
      • Damien Serca  [ Meteo-France - CNRS, CNRM-GAME, Grenoble, France ]
      • Francois Besson  [ Meteo-France, DClim, Toulouse, France ]
      • Jean-Marie Willemet  [ Meteo-France - CNRS, CNRM-GAME, Grenoble, France ]
      • Gerald Giraud  [ Meteo-France - CNRS, CNRM-GAME, Grenoble, France ]
      • Yves Durand  [ Meteo-France - CNRS, CNRM-GAME, Grenoble, France ]

      Date: 2013-10-07

      Abstract: Operational avalanche hazard warning carried out by Météo-France for the three main mountain ranges (Alps, Pyrenees, Corsica) have used snow simulations based on the SAFRANCrocus-MEPRA (SCM) model chain, for over a decade. Mid-altitude mountain ranges (Massif-Central, Vosges, Jura), culminating below 2000 meters, were until now not considered. Crocus has recently been incorporated in the Earth surface platform “SURFEX” as one of the snowpack schemes of the land surface model ISBA. This allows in particular to explicitly represent interactions between snow and the underlying soil. Such an improvement makes possible to use Crocus under conditions where the state of the soil may have a significant impact on the properties of snow, which is particularly true for low altitude regions, where the snowpack is shallower and more ephemeral. A new version of the SCM model chain, renamed SAFRAN-SURFEX-MEPRA should replace SCM for all operational applications in the near future. Here we present a comprehensive evaluation of the performance of this new model chain, not only for Alps, Pyrenees and Corsica, but also for mid-altitude mountain ranges. Models are evaluated against ground-based measurements of snow depth gathered at over 150 locations in all considered mountain ranges.

      Language of Article: English

      Presenters: Unknown

      Keywords: snow modelling, operational, ground, mid-altitude

      Page Number(s): 162-165

      Subjects: snow model avalanche hazard avalanche forecasting

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