Avalanches can already be predicted and simulated well. However, it is still difficult to understand in detail what happens in avalanches. In a project funded by the Austrian science fund FWF and the German Research Foundation (DFG), scientists now want to use sensors to take various measurements in the snow masses hurtling down the valley and thus “see inside” an avalanche. This could, among other things, make it easier to search for buried persons.
Until now, the inner dynamics of avalanches have mainly been measured using radar. In the project “AvaRange: Object Tracking in Snow Avalanches”, Jan-Thomas Fischer, head of the Institute for Natural Hazards of the Federal Research Center for Forests (BFW) in Innsbruck, pursues a different approach together with partners: minicomputers with advanced sensors , as found in modern smartphones, are tasked with recording during snow movements in an avalanche.
“This includes elements for precise positioning using satellite navigation systems, accelerometers, gyroscopes that determine the position of the sensor modules in space, or sensors that can accurately measure the temperature profile,” Fischer said in a press release from the FWF.
The scientists are mainly concerned with smaller avalanches, for which the simulation tools are not yet so advanced. To find data from different avalanche events with similar boundary conditions and to achieve reproducible results, the scientists are collaborating with the Nordkette ski area near Innsbruck, where avalanche explosions are regularly conducted.
Sensors are carried away
The sensor units, which are packed in sturdy cases, are placed in such a way that they are dragged along by the avalanches. Not only do they have contact with measuring points outside the avalanche, but at an advanced stage of development they must also communicate with their “colleagues” in the avalanche and continuously determine their relative positions, for example by measuring radio distance. This is necessary to understand their chaotic movements within the snow masses.
The researchers want to draw conclusions from the movement sequences recorded in this way about a number of internal properties of avalanches. This includes, for example, the phenomenon of so-called “inverse segregation”, in which snow particles or clumps of different sizes form and the larger particles tend to sort themselves upwards with movement. This is also used by avalanche airbags, which are supposed to transport their carriers to the surface of the avalanche.
However, the actual movement of the snow clumps in the avalanche depends on many factors. “This includes not only the size of the parts, but also their density and their exact shape,” explains Fischer, who wants to know how these properties influence and determine the flow of the snow particles in the avalanche. The scientists want to use these findings to create new simulation tools and make them freely available to science. Improved simulations could help, for example, to correctly position and dimension protective structures, to determine the most likely burial place for avalanche victims in the avalanche cone, or to improve avalanche airbags.
Source: Krone
I am an experienced and passionate journalist with a strong track record in news website reporting. I specialize in technology coverage, breaking stories on the latest developments and trends from around the world. Working for Today Times Live has given me the opportunity to write thought-provoking pieces that have caught the attention of many readers.
