Glide-snow avalanches: a mechanical, threshold-based  release area model

Fees, Amelie; van Herwijnen, Alec; Lombardo, Michael; Schweizer, Jürg; Lehmann, Peter

doi:10.5194/nhess-24-3387-2024

Articles | Volume 24, issue 10

https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-3387-2024

© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Special issue:

Latest developments in snow science and avalanche risk management...

https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-3387-2024

© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 24, issue 10

Research article

|

02 Oct 2024

Research article |

| 02 Oct 2024

Glide-snow avalanches: a mechanical, threshold-based release area model

Amelie Fees, Alec van Herwijnen, Michael Lombardo, Jürg Schweizer, and Peter Lehmann

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Month	HTML	PDF	XML	Total
Mar 2024	123	27	5	155
Apr 2024	104	14	7	125
May 2024	45	12	5	62
Jun 2024	78	17	8	103
Jul 2024	21	9	6	36
Aug 2024	32	4	3	39
Sep 2024	12	7	2	21
Oct 2024	152	31	36	219
Nov 2024	45	13	50	108
Dec 2024	32	16	53	101
Jan 2025	44	14	41	99
Feb 2025	32	22	2	56
Mar 2025	37	9	1	47
Apr 2025	51	18	3	72
May 2025	34	4	0	38
Jun 2025	33	36	2	71
Jul 2025	22	17	2	41
Aug 2025	49	16	1	66
Sep 2025	204	14	2	220
Oct 2025	33	32	2	67
Nov 2025	74	41	3	118
Dec 2025	128	44	4	176
Jan 2026	433	72	17	522
Feb 2026	184	25	4	213
Mar 2026	79	124	7	210
Apr 2026	52	112	5	169
May 2026	3	2	0	5

Cumulative views and downloads (calculated since 06 Mar 2024)

Month	HTML	PDF	XML	Total
Mar 2024	123	27	5	155
Apr 2024	104	14	7	125
May 2024	45	12	5	62
Jun 2024	78	17	8	103
Jul 2024	21	9	6	36
Aug 2024	32	4	3	39
Sep 2024	12	7	2	21
Oct 2024	152	31	36	219
Nov 2024	45	13	50	108
Dec 2024	32	16	53	101
Jan 2025	44	14	41	99
Feb 2025	32	22	2	56
Mar 2025	37	9	1	47
Apr 2025	51	18	3	72
May 2025	34	4	0	38
Jun 2025	33	36	2	71
Jul 2025	22	17	2	41
Aug 2025	49	16	1	66
Sep 2025	204	14	2	220
Oct 2025	33	32	2	67
Nov 2025	74	41	3	118
Dec 2025	128	44	4	176
Jan 2026	433	72	17	522
Feb 2026	184	25	4	213
Mar 2026	79	124	7	210
Apr 2026	52	112	5	169
May 2026	3	2	0	5

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Short summary

Glide-snow avalanches release at the ground–snow interface, and their release process is poorly understood. To investigate the influence of spatial variability (snowpack and basal friction) on avalanche release, we developed a 3D, mechanical, threshold-based model that reproduces an observed release area distribution. A sensitivity analysis showed that the distribution was mostly influenced by the basal friction uniformity, while the variations in snowpack properties had little influence.