Automated avalanche hazard indication mapping on a statewide scale
<p>Snow avalanche hazard mapping has a long tradition in the European Alps. Hazard maps delineate areas of potential avalanche danger and are only available for selected areas where people and significant infrastructure are endangered. They have been created over generations, at specific sites...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2022-06-01
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| Series: | Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences |
| Online Access: | https://nhess.copernicus.org/articles/22/1825/2022/nhess-22-1825-2022.pdf |
| _version_ | 1817978036373422080 |
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| author | Y. Bühler Y. Bühler P. Bebi P. Bebi M. Christen M. Christen S. Margreth L. Stoffel A. Stoffel A. Stoffel C. Marty G. Schmucki G. Schmucki A. Caviezel A. Caviezel R. Kühne S. Wohlwend P. Bartelt P. Bartelt |
| author_facet | Y. Bühler Y. Bühler P. Bebi P. Bebi M. Christen M. Christen S. Margreth L. Stoffel A. Stoffel A. Stoffel C. Marty G. Schmucki G. Schmucki A. Caviezel A. Caviezel R. Kühne S. Wohlwend P. Bartelt P. Bartelt |
| author_sort | Y. Bühler |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <p>Snow avalanche hazard mapping has a long tradition in the European Alps.
Hazard maps delineate areas of potential avalanche danger and are only
available for selected areas where people and significant infrastructure are
endangered. They have been created over generations, at specific sites,
mainly based on avalanche activity in the past. For a large part of the area
(90 % in the case of the canton of Grisons) only strongly generalized
hazard indication maps are available (SilvaProtect), not showing impact
information such as pressure. This is a problem when new territory with no
or an incomplete historical record is to be developed. It is an even larger
problem when trying to predict the effects of climate change at the state
scale, where the historical record may no longer be valid. To close this gap,
we develop an automated approach to generate spatially coherent hazard
indication mapping based on a digital elevation model for the canton of
Grisons (7105 km<span class="inline-formula"><sup>2</sup></span>) in the Swiss Alps. We calculate eight different
scenarios with return periods ranging from frequent to very rare as well as
with and without taking the protective effects of the forest into account,
resulting in a total of approximately 2 million individual avalanche
simulations. This approach combines the automated delineation of potential
release areas, the calculation of release depths and the numerical
simulation of the avalanche dynamics. We find that between 47 % (most
frequent scenario) and 67 % (most extreme scenario) of the cantonal area
can be affected by avalanches. Without forest, approximately 20 % more
area would be endangered. This procedure can be applied worldwide, where
high-spatial-resolution digital elevation models, detailed information on
the forest and data on the snow climate are available, enabling reproducible
hazard indication mapping also in regions where no avalanche hazard maps yet
exist. This is invaluable for climate change studies. The simulation results
are validated with official hazard maps, by assessments of avalanche experts,
and by existing avalanche cadastres derived from manual mapping and mapping
based on satellite datasets. The results for the canton of Grisons are now
operationally applied in the daily hazard assessment work of the
authorities. Based on these experiences, the proposed approach can be
applied for further mountain regions.</p> |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T22:25:09Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ba1e97c7f4624cd2a2e03a01cd66c249 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1561-8633 1684-9981 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T22:25:09Z |
| publishDate | 2022-06-01 |
| publisher | Copernicus Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-ba1e97c7f4624cd2a2e03a01cd66c2492022-12-22T02:27:06ZengCopernicus PublicationsNatural Hazards and Earth System Sciences1561-86331684-99812022-06-01221825184310.5194/nhess-22-1825-2022Automated avalanche hazard indication mapping on a statewide scaleY. Bühler0Y. Bühler1P. Bebi2P. Bebi3M. Christen4M. Christen5S. Margreth6L. Stoffel7A. Stoffel8A. Stoffel9C. Marty10G. Schmucki11G. Schmucki12A. Caviezel13A. Caviezel14R. Kühne15S. Wohlwend16P. Bartelt17P. Bartelt18WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, 7260 Davos Dorf, SwitzerlandClimate Change, Extremes and Natural Hazards in Alpine Regions Research Center CERC, 7260 Davos Dorf, SwitzerlandWSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, 7260 Davos Dorf, SwitzerlandClimate Change, Extremes and Natural Hazards in Alpine Regions Research Center CERC, 7260 Davos Dorf, SwitzerlandWSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, 7260 Davos Dorf, SwitzerlandClimate Change, Extremes and Natural Hazards in Alpine Regions Research Center CERC, 7260 Davos Dorf, SwitzerlandWSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, 7260 Davos Dorf, SwitzerlandWSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, 7260 Davos Dorf, SwitzerlandWSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, 7260 Davos Dorf, SwitzerlandClimate Change, Extremes and Natural Hazards in Alpine Regions Research Center CERC, 7260 Davos Dorf, SwitzerlandWSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, 7260 Davos Dorf, SwitzerlandWSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, 7260 Davos Dorf, SwitzerlandClimate Change, Extremes and Natural Hazards in Alpine Regions Research Center CERC, 7260 Davos Dorf, SwitzerlandWSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, 7260 Davos Dorf, SwitzerlandClimate Change, Extremes and Natural Hazards in Alpine Regions Research Center CERC, 7260 Davos Dorf, SwitzerlandDepartment of Forest and Natural Hazards (AWN), Canton Grisons, 7000 Chur, SwitzerlandOffice for Civil Protection, Government of Liechtenstein, 9490 Vaduz, LiechtensteinWSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, 7260 Davos Dorf, SwitzerlandClimate Change, Extremes and Natural Hazards in Alpine Regions Research Center CERC, 7260 Davos Dorf, Switzerland<p>Snow avalanche hazard mapping has a long tradition in the European Alps. Hazard maps delineate areas of potential avalanche danger and are only available for selected areas where people and significant infrastructure are endangered. They have been created over generations, at specific sites, mainly based on avalanche activity in the past. For a large part of the area (90 % in the case of the canton of Grisons) only strongly generalized hazard indication maps are available (SilvaProtect), not showing impact information such as pressure. This is a problem when new territory with no or an incomplete historical record is to be developed. It is an even larger problem when trying to predict the effects of climate change at the state scale, where the historical record may no longer be valid. To close this gap, we develop an automated approach to generate spatially coherent hazard indication mapping based on a digital elevation model for the canton of Grisons (7105 km<span class="inline-formula"><sup>2</sup></span>) in the Swiss Alps. We calculate eight different scenarios with return periods ranging from frequent to very rare as well as with and without taking the protective effects of the forest into account, resulting in a total of approximately 2 million individual avalanche simulations. This approach combines the automated delineation of potential release areas, the calculation of release depths and the numerical simulation of the avalanche dynamics. We find that between 47 % (most frequent scenario) and 67 % (most extreme scenario) of the cantonal area can be affected by avalanches. Without forest, approximately 20 % more area would be endangered. This procedure can be applied worldwide, where high-spatial-resolution digital elevation models, detailed information on the forest and data on the snow climate are available, enabling reproducible hazard indication mapping also in regions where no avalanche hazard maps yet exist. This is invaluable for climate change studies. The simulation results are validated with official hazard maps, by assessments of avalanche experts, and by existing avalanche cadastres derived from manual mapping and mapping based on satellite datasets. The results for the canton of Grisons are now operationally applied in the daily hazard assessment work of the authorities. Based on these experiences, the proposed approach can be applied for further mountain regions.</p>https://nhess.copernicus.org/articles/22/1825/2022/nhess-22-1825-2022.pdf |
| spellingShingle | Y. Bühler Y. Bühler P. Bebi P. Bebi M. Christen M. Christen S. Margreth L. Stoffel A. Stoffel A. Stoffel C. Marty G. Schmucki G. Schmucki A. Caviezel A. Caviezel R. Kühne S. Wohlwend P. Bartelt P. Bartelt Automated avalanche hazard indication mapping on a statewide scale Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences |
| title | Automated avalanche hazard indication mapping on a statewide scale |
| title_full | Automated avalanche hazard indication mapping on a statewide scale |
| title_fullStr | Automated avalanche hazard indication mapping on a statewide scale |
| title_full_unstemmed | Automated avalanche hazard indication mapping on a statewide scale |
| title_short | Automated avalanche hazard indication mapping on a statewide scale |
| title_sort | automated avalanche hazard indication mapping on a statewide scale |
| url | https://nhess.copernicus.org/articles/22/1825/2022/nhess-22-1825-2022.pdf |
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