Using video detection of snow surface movements to estimate weak layer crack propagation speeds
Dry-snow slab avalanches release due to crack propagation in a weak snow layer under a cohesive snow slab. Crack propagation speeds can provide insights into the potential size of avalanches and inform fracture and avalanche release models. Despite their importance, slope-scale crack speed measureme...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Cambridge University Press
2024-01-01
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| Series: | Annals of Glaciology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0260305523000368/type/journal_article |
| _version_ | 1826543927961845760 |
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| author | Ron Simenhois Karl W. Birkeland Johan Gaume Alec van Herwijnen Bastian Bergfeld Bertil Trottet Ethan Greene |
| author_facet | Ron Simenhois Karl W. Birkeland Johan Gaume Alec van Herwijnen Bastian Bergfeld Bertil Trottet Ethan Greene |
| author_sort | Ron Simenhois |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Dry-snow slab avalanches release due to crack propagation in a weak snow layer under a cohesive snow slab. Crack propagation speeds can provide insights into the potential size of avalanches and inform fracture and avalanche release models. Despite their importance, slope-scale crack speed measurements from real avalanches are limited. Further, most existing slope-scale measurements utilize the appearance of slab fractures on the snow surface. However, we have no evidence that the appearance of surface cracking is a good indicator of the weak layer crack propagation tip. Here we present a novel method to estimate crack propagation speed from snow surface movements in avalanche videos. Our technique uses changes in frame pixel intensity, allowing us to detect the location of weak layer cracks well before slab fractures appear on the snow surface. We use field experiments and numerical simulations to validate our method before applying it to five avalanches. Our estimates show that cracks propagate faster up and down the slope than in the cross-slope direction; this suggests that different propagation regimes likely govern crack propagation up/down the slope, cross-slope and in flat terrain. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T10:07:33Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7c69bbbe79ad40ae83ddb86ba0da3bec |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0260-3055 1727-5644 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-03-14T04:53:51Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Annals of Glaciology |
| spelling | doaj.art-7c69bbbe79ad40ae83ddb86ba0da3bec2025-03-07T11:29:53ZengCambridge University PressAnnals of Glaciology0260-30551727-56442024-01-016510.1017/aog.2023.36Using video detection of snow surface movements to estimate weak layer crack propagation speedsRon Simenhois0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5572-8750Karl W. Birkeland1Johan Gaume2Alec van Herwijnen3https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5637-6486Bastian Bergfeld4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3316-1922Bertil Trottet5Ethan Greene6Colorado Avalanche Information Center, Boulder, CO, USAUSDA Forest Service National Avalanche Center, Bozeman, MT, USAInstitute for Geotechnical Engineering, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Davos Dorf, Switzerland Climate Change, Extremes, and Natural Hazards in Alpine Regions Research Center CERC, Davos Dorf, SwitzerlandWSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Davos Dorf, SwitzerlandWSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Davos Dorf, SwitzerlandSchool of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, SwitzerlandColorado Avalanche Information Center, Boulder, CO, USADry-snow slab avalanches release due to crack propagation in a weak snow layer under a cohesive snow slab. Crack propagation speeds can provide insights into the potential size of avalanches and inform fracture and avalanche release models. Despite their importance, slope-scale crack speed measurements from real avalanches are limited. Further, most existing slope-scale measurements utilize the appearance of slab fractures on the snow surface. However, we have no evidence that the appearance of surface cracking is a good indicator of the weak layer crack propagation tip. Here we present a novel method to estimate crack propagation speed from snow surface movements in avalanche videos. Our technique uses changes in frame pixel intensity, allowing us to detect the location of weak layer cracks well before slab fractures appear on the snow surface. We use field experiments and numerical simulations to validate our method before applying it to five avalanches. Our estimates show that cracks propagate faster up and down the slope than in the cross-slope direction; this suggests that different propagation regimes likely govern crack propagation up/down the slope, cross-slope and in flat terrain.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0260305523000368/type/journal_articleAvalanchessnow |
| spellingShingle | Ron Simenhois Karl W. Birkeland Johan Gaume Alec van Herwijnen Bastian Bergfeld Bertil Trottet Ethan Greene Using video detection of snow surface movements to estimate weak layer crack propagation speeds Annals of Glaciology Avalanches snow |
| title | Using video detection of snow surface movements to estimate weak layer crack propagation speeds |
| title_full | Using video detection of snow surface movements to estimate weak layer crack propagation speeds |
| title_fullStr | Using video detection of snow surface movements to estimate weak layer crack propagation speeds |
| title_full_unstemmed | Using video detection of snow surface movements to estimate weak layer crack propagation speeds |
| title_short | Using video detection of snow surface movements to estimate weak layer crack propagation speeds |
| title_sort | using video detection of snow surface movements to estimate weak layer crack propagation speeds |
| topic | Avalanches snow |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0260305523000368/type/journal_article |
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