After a 5-year hiatus, the International Snow Science Workshop (ISSW), the largest snow-avalanche-focused science meeting in the world, is taking place again this autumn. This year’s conference is taking place in Bend, Oregon, from 5–13 October 2023. Building on the tradition of previous ISSWs, we take this opportunity to compile a special issue that summarizes the latest developments in snow science and avalanche risk management research.

We invite all ISSW presenters interested in a peer-reviewed scientific publication to submit manuscripts that explain their research in more detail than in the conference proceedings. To be considered, these papers need to be scientifically more rigorous, which means that they contain expanded technical information, additional details on methods, and a more complete description of results and conclusions.

Avalanche risk management is an inherently interdisciplinary challenge that requires an in-depth understanding of both the natural phenomenon and the people interacting with that hazard. Hence, we encourage submissions from a wide range of topics including but not limited to avalanche dynamics, snow stability, snow remote sensing, snow modelling, and snow instrumentation, as well as decision-making and the human aspects of avalanche risk management. We welcome theoretical contributions but encourage authors to highlight the practical relevance of their work.

To round out the special issue, we are approaching community leaders to write invited review papers that discuss the latest accomplishments and challenges in different core areas of snow science and avalanche risk management research. The intent of these articles is to provide accessible, up-to-date summaries of the current state of the research areas for both researchers and practitioners. If you are interested in writing one of these review papers, please contact one of the editors.

Review process: all papers of this special issue underwent the regular interactive peer-review process of Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences handled by members of the editorial board as well as guest editors designated by the NHESS executive editors.