Articles | Volume 25, issue 7
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-2215-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-2215-2025
Research article
 | 
07 Jul 2025
Research article |  | 07 Jul 2025

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

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Interactive discussion

Status: closed

Comment types: AC – author | RC – referee | CC – community | EC – editor | CEC – chief editor | : Report abuse
  • RC1: 'Comment on nhess-2024-70', Anonymous Referee #1, 16 Jul 2024
    • AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Grégoire Bobillier, 03 Feb 2025
  • RC2: 'Comment on nhess-2024-70', Markus Hoffmann, 21 Oct 2024
    • AC2: 'Reply on RC2', Grégoire Bobillier, 03 Feb 2025

Peer review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision | EF: Editorial file upload
ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (review by editor) (14 Feb 2025) by Ingrid Reiweger
AR by Grégoire Bobillier on behalf of the Authors (19 Feb 2025)  Author's response   Author's tracked changes   Manuscript 
ED: Publish as is (07 Mar 2025) by Ingrid Reiweger
ED: Publish as is (14 Mar 2025) by Pascal Haegeli (Executive editor)
AR by Grégoire Bobillier on behalf of the Authors (24 Mar 2025)
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Short summary
Our study investigates the initiation of snow slab avalanches. Combining experimental data with numerical simulations, we show that on gentle slopes, cracks form and propagate due to compressive fractures within a weak layer. On steeper slopes, crack velocity can increase dramatically after approximately 5 m due to a fracture mode transition from compression to shear. Understanding these dynamics provides a crucial missing piece in the puzzle of dry-snow slab avalanche formation.
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