Snow avalanches pose a threat to infrastructure and life. A common way to mitigate avalanche hazards is to identify areas where the avalanche hazard can occur. For this purpose, statistical and deterministic avalanche models are applied.
Avaframe is an open-source project providing advanced avalanche models (www.avaframe.org). It is therefore an attractive competitor to widely used proprietary models such as RAMMS.
You will use the dense flow model in the Avaframe package to model run-out distances and velocities of known avalanche events and previous studies using alternative avalanche models (https://publikasjoner.nve.no/rapport/2015/rapport2015_107.pdf).
You will investigate the sensitivity of the model to various model parameters, such as snow density, slab thickness/volume or fall height.
The secondary goal of this study is to find an objective/numerical method to determine the location and size of a slab representative of a given avalanche volume.
The learning outcomes of the project are the following:
- Avalanche mechanics and dynamics
- Handling data in a GIS
- Modelling snow avalanches using AvaFrame
- Comparison and statistical analysis of model results
- Python scripting
To implement this project, it is recommended to have:
- Basic GIS knowledge
- Basic programming skills (ideally in Python)
- Basic understanding of snow avalanche dynamics