Articles | Volume 23, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-293-2023
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-293-2023
Research article
 | 
26 Jan 2023
Research article |  | 26 Jan 2023

Temporal evolution of crack propagation characteristics in a weak snowpack layer: conditions of crack arrest and sustained propagation

Bastian Bergfeld, Alec van Herwijnen, Grégoire Bobillier, Philipp L. Rosendahl, Philipp Weißgraeber, Valentin Adam, Jürg Dual, and Jürg Schweizer

Related authors

The effect of slab touchdown on anticrack arrest in propagation saw tests
Philipp L. Rosendahl, Johannes Schneider, Grégoire Bobillier, Florian Rheinschmidt, Bastian Bergfeld, Alec van Herwijnen, and Philipp Weißgraeber
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2024-122,https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2024-122, 2024
Revised manuscript under review for NHESS
Short summary
Supershear crack propagation in snow slab avalanche release: new insights from numerical simulations and field measurements
Grégoire Bobillier, Bertil Trottet, Bastian Bergfeld, Ron Simenhois, Alec van Herwijnen, Jürg Schweizer, and Johan Gaume
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2024-70,https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2024-70, 2024
Preprint under review for NHESS
Short summary
The effect of propagation saw test geometries on critical cut length
Bastian Bergfeld, Karl W. Birkeland, Valentin Adam, Philipp L. Rosendahl, and Alec van Herwijnen
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-690,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-690, 2024
Short summary
Dynamic crack propagation in weak snowpack layers: insights from high-resolution, high-speed photography
Bastian Bergfeld, Alec van Herwijnen, Benjamin Reuter, Grégoire Bobillier, Jürg Dual, and Jürg Schweizer
The Cryosphere, 15, 3539–3553, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3539-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3539-2021, 2021
Short summary

Related subject area

Other Hazards (e.g., Glacial and Snow Hazards, Karst, Wildfires Hazards, and Medical Geo-Hazards)
Glide-snow avalanches: a mechanical, threshold-based release area model
Amelie Fees, Alec van Herwijnen, Michael Lombardo, Jürg Schweizer, and Peter Lehmann
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 3387–3400, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-3387-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-3387-2024, 2024
Short summary
Improving fire severity prediction in south-eastern Australia using vegetation-specific information
Kang He, Xinyi Shen, Cory Merow, Efthymios Nikolopoulos, Rachael V. Gallagher, Feifei Yang, and Emmanouil N. Anagnostou
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 3337–3355, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-3337-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-3337-2024, 2024
Short summary
Review article: A scoping review of human factors in avalanche decision-making
Audun Hetland, Rebecca Anne Hetland, Tarjei Tveito Skille, and Andrea Mannberg
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1628,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1628, 2024
Short summary
How hard do avalanche practitioners tap during snow stability tests?
Håvard B. Toft, Samuel V. Verplanck, and Markus Landrø
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 2757–2772, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-2757-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-2757-2024, 2024
Short summary
A large-scale validation of snowpack simulations in support of avalanche forecasting focusing on critical layers
Florian Herla, Pascal Haegeli, Simon Horton, and Patrick Mair
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 2727–2756, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-2727-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-2727-2024, 2024
Short summary

Cited articles

Bair, E. H., Simenhois, R., van Herwijnen, A., and Birkeland, K.: The influence of edge effects on crack propagation in snow stability tests, The Cryosphere, 8, 1407–1418, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-1407-2014, 2014. 
Behiri, J. C. and Bonfield, W.: Crack velocity dependence of longitudinal fracture in bone, J. Mater. Sci., 15, 1841–1849, https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00550605, 1980. 
Bergfeld, B., van Herwijnen, A., Reuter, B., Bobillier, G., Dual, J., and Schweizer, J.: Dynamic crack propagation in weak snowpack layers: insights from high-resolution, high-speed photography, The Cryosphere, 15, 3539–3553, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3539-2021, 2021. 
Bergfeld, B., van Herwijnen, A., Bobillier, G., Larose, E., Moreau, L., Trottet, B., Gaume, J., Cathomen, J., Dual, J., and Schweizer, J.: Crack propagation speeds in weak snowpack layers, J. Glaciol., 68, 557–570, https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2021.118, 2022. 
Bergfeld, B., van Herwijnen, A., and Schweizer, J.: Time series data on dynamic crack propagation in long propagation saw tests, EnviDat [data set], https://doi.org/10.16904/envidat.365, 2023. 
Download
Short summary
For a slab avalanche to release, the snowpack must facilitate crack propagation over large distances. Field measurements on crack propagation at this scale are very scarce. We performed a series of experiments, up to 10 m long, over a period of 10 weeks. Beside the temporal evolution of the mechanical properties of the snowpack, we found that crack speeds were highest for tests resulting in full propagation. Based on these findings, an index for self-sustained crack propagation is proposed.
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint