Articles | Volume 12, issue 12
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3759-2018
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3759-2018
Research article
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30 Nov 2018
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 30 Nov 2018

Cold-to-warm flow regime transition in snow avalanches

Anselm Köhler, Jan-Thomas Fischer, Riccardo Scandroglio, Mathias Bavay, Jim McElwaine, and Betty Sovilla

Data sets

GEODAR data of snow avalanches at Vallée de la Sionne: Seasons 2010/11, 2011/12, 2012/13 & 2014/15 [Data set] J. N. McElwaine, A. Köhler, B. Sovilla, M. Ash, M., and P. Brennan https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1042108

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Short summary
Snow avalanches show complicated flow behaviour, characterized by several flow regimes which coexist in one avalanche. In this work, we analyse flow regime transitions where a powder snow avalanche transforms into a plug flow avalanche by incorporating warm snow due to entrainment. Prediction of such a transition is very important for hazard mitigation, as the efficiency of protection dams are strongly dependent on the flow regime, and our results should be incorporated into avalanche models.