Signatures of the sub-Rayleigh to supershear fracture transition in snow avalanche experiments [PDF]
Nature CommunicationsSnow slab avalanches occur when a crack propagates within a highly porous weak snow layer buried beneath a cohesive snow slab. Here, we report direct observations of a supershear event in snow fracture experiments following the spontaneous transition ...
Bastian Bergfeld +5 more
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River temperature response to atmospheric heatwaves is modulated by discharge and meltwater [PDF]
Communications Earth & EnvironmentAlpine rivers are becoming increasingly exposed to atmospheric heatwaves. Because of their strong relationship with air temperature, rivers can experience persistent heat anomalies, known as riverine heatwaves, which can have serious consequences for ...
Amber van Hamel +2 more
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Photogrammetrically UAV based terrain data generation and automatic extraction of torrential properties [PDF]
E3S Web of Conferences, 2023 Debris flows are a severe hazard in mountainous regions. However, cost-effective long-term studies of debris flows are seldom, which leads to substantial uncertainties in hazard mitigation methods.
Schmucki Gregor Rafael +7 more
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Multi-component avalanches for rock- and ice-falls to potential debris flow transition modelling [PDF]
E3S Web of Conferences, 2023 Rock/ice avalanches are complex gravitational flows involving three important physicalprocesses: entrainment, phase-changes, and flow transitions. The basic complexity of modelling rock/ice avalanches lies in the fact that the flow is a mixture of rock ...
Munch Jessica +2 more
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Micromechanical modeling of snow failure [PDF]
The Cryosphere, 2020 Dry-snow slab avalanches start with the formation of a local failure in a highly porous weak layer underlying a cohesive snow slab. If followed by rapid crack propagation within the weak layer and finally a tensile fracture through the slab, a slab ...
G. Bobillier +7 more
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The RHOSSA campaign: multi-resolution monitoring of the seasonal evolution of the structure and mechanical stability of an alpine snowpack [PDF]
The Cryosphere, 2020 The necessity of characterizing snow through objective, physically motivated parameters has led to new model formulations and new measurement techniques.
N. Calonne +9 more
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Prediction of natural dry-snow avalanche activity using physics-based snowpack simulations [PDF]
Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, 2023 Predicting the timing and size of natural snow avalanches is crucial for local and regional decision makers but remains one of the major challenges in avalanche forecasting.
S. Mayer +3 more
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On the correlation between a sub-level qualifier refining the danger level with observations and models relating to the contributing factors of avalanche danger [PDF]
Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, 2022 Forecasting avalanche danger at a regional scale is a largely data-driven yet also experience-based decision-making process by human experts. In the case of public avalanche forecasts, this assessment process terminates in an expert judgment concerning ...
F. Techel +4 more
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The relevance of rock shape over mass—implications for rockfall hazard assessments
Nature Communications, 2021 The awareness of rock shape dependence in rockfall hazard assessment is growing, but experimental and field studies are scarce. This study presents a large data set of induced single block rockfall events quantifying the influence of rock shape and mass ...
Andrin Caviezel +23 more
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Wind tunnel experiments: cold-air pooling and atmospheric decoupling above a melting snow patch [PDF]
The Cryosphere, 2016 The longevity of perennial snowfields is not fully understood, but it is known that strong atmospheric stability and thus boundary-layer decoupling limit the amount of (sensible and latent) heat that can be transmitted from the atmosphere to the snow ...
R. Mott +4 more
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