Avalanche scientific and silvicultural analysis of the catastrophic winter of 1998/99 and creation of a standard method for the determination of avalanche endangered areas
Abstract
In February 1999 one of the most disastrous avalanche events ever in Austria has struck the Paznaun valley in the province of Tyrol and has cost in total 38 human lives. The University of Agricultural Sciences Vienna, which is the center of the Austrian research activities in the field of snow and avalanches and the Austrian Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry immediately ordered the production of aerial photos of the catastrophic site. Those photos which were taken at the first day with sufficient weather conditions are constituting the core database of a project which aims a substantial improvement in avalanche risk assessment and avalanche hazard management. Main topics of this study are the analysis of avalanche events (approx. 300) documented on the photo material and a calibration of an existing avalanche run-out model. Preliminary simulations of the catastrophic avalanche of Galtuer have shown that the model is basically capable of describing the run-out of an avalanche in a realistic manner with respect to the affected area, the speed and the mechanic effects. Other subjects of this research initiative are tackling the quantification of the influence of wind and other meteorological variables on avalanche activity. The final target of the project is a spatially explicit system for real time avalanche hazard forecast on the basis of avalanche run-out simulations, meteorological measurements and weather forecasts of meteorological models. This project is funded by the Austrian Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the University of Agricultural Sciences Vienna, Austria.
keywords risk analysis Avalanches Hazard mapping Natural Disasters Disaster mitigation
Publikationen
Lawinenkundliche und waldbauliche Analyse des Katastrophenwinters 1998/99 und Erstellung eines Standartverfahrens zur dynamischen Ermittlung lawinengefährdeter Bereiche mit dem Ziel einer verbesserten Katastrophenprävention
Autoren: Fuchs, H., Kleemayer, K., Volk, G. Jahr: 2002
Conference & Workshop proceedings, paper, abstract
Project staff
Helmut Fuchs
Ao.Univ.Prof.i.R. Dipl.-Ing. Dr.techn. Helmut Fuchs
helmut.fuchs@boku.ac.at
Project Leader
15.07.1999 - 30.06.2001
Karl Kleemayr
Ass.Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr.nat.techn. Karl Kleemayr
Project Staff
15.07.1999 - 30.06.2001
Alfred Pitterle
Ass.Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr.nat.techn. Alfred Pitterle
alfred.pitterle@boku.ac.at
Project Staff
15.07.1999 - 30.06.2001