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Dr. RAMESH KUMAR

AVALANCHES What is an avalanche An avalanche or snow slide is a sudden, drastic flow of snow down a slope, occurring when either natural triggers, such as loading from new snow or rain, or artificial triggers, such as snowmobilers, explosives or backcountry skiers, overload the snowpack. Ninety percent of all avalanches occur on moderate slopes with an angle of 30 to 45 (snow tends not to accumulate on steeper slopes).

Why avalanche is recently in news Recently Avalanches warning has been issued by authorities in Kashmir in view of fresh snowfall in high-altitude areas in Kashmir to people living in areas close to the Line of Control.

Why avalanches occur Avalanches occur when the gravity pushing the collection of snow at the top of the slope is greater than the strength of the snow itself. A change in temperature, a loud noise, or vibrations are all that are necessary to trigger one of these snowfalls that begin at a "starting zone." The avalanche continues downslope along the "track" and ultimately the avalanche fans out and settles in the "runout zone."

Why avalanches are more common in winter than summer During winter more amount of snow accumulate more pressure is created due to more snow snow slide or avalanche

How to classify avalanches Avalanches are classified by their morphological characteristics and are rated by either their destructive potential, or the mass of the downward flowing snow. Some of the morphological characteristics used to classify avalanches include the type of snow involved, the nature of the failure, the sliding surface, the propagation mechanism of the failure, the trigger of the avalanche, the slope angle, slope aspect, and elevation

Dr. RAMESH KUMAR

Based on the dangerous level

Classification of avalanche based on destructive potential Size Destructive Potential

Relatively harmless to people.

Could bury, injure or kill a person.

Could bury and destroy a car, damage a truck, destroy a small building or break a few trees.

Could destroy a railway car, large truck, several buildings or a forest area up to 4

Dr. RAMESH KUMAR

hectares.

Largest snow avalanche known. Could destroy a village or a forest of 40 hectares.

How to prevent avalanches The simplest active measure is by repeatedly traveling on a snowpack as snow accumulates; this can be by means of boot-packing, ski-cutting, or machine grooming. Explosives are used extensively to prevent avalanches, by triggering smaller avalanches that break down instabilities in the snowpack, and removing over burden that can result in larger avalanches Passive preventive systems such as Snow fences and light walls can be used to direct the placement of snow A snow fence is a structure, similar to a sand fence, that forces drifting snow to accumulate in a desired place. They are primarily employed to minimize the amount of snowdrift on roadways and railways To mitigate the effect of avalanches, artificial barriers can be very effective in reducing avalanche damage