Mapping avalanches with satellites – evaluation of performance and completeness

Hafner, Elisabeth D.; Techel, Frank; Leinss, Silvan; Bühler, Yves

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-983-2021

Articles | Volume 15, issue 2

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-983-2021

© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-983-2021

© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 15, issue 2

Research article

| Highlight paper

|

24 Feb 2021

Research article | Highlight paper |

| 24 Feb 2021

Mapping avalanches with satellites – evaluation of performance and completeness

Elisabeth D. Hafner, Frank Techel, Silvan Leinss, and Yves Bühler

Data sets

Satellite avalanche mapping validation data Elisabeth D. Hafner, Frank Techel, Silvan Leinss, and Yves Bühler https://doi.org/10.16904/envidat.202

Short summary

Satellites prove to be very valuable for documentation of large-scale avalanche periods. To test reliability and completeness, which has not been satisfactorily verified before, we attempt a full validation of avalanches mapped from two optical sensors and one radar sensor. Our results demonstrate the reliability of high-spatial-resolution optical data for avalanche mapping, the suitability of radar for mapping of larger avalanches and the unsuitability of medium-spatial-resolution optical data.