The 2085 km2 Jordan River Basin, and its seven sub‐catchments draining the Central Wasatch Range immediately east of Salt Lake City, UT, are home to an array of hydrologic, atmospheric, climatic and ...chemical research infrastructure that collectively forms the Wasatch Environmental Observatory (WEO). WEO is geographically nested within a wildland to urban land‐use gradient and built upon a strong foundation of over a century of discharge and climate records. A 2200 m gradient in elevation results in variable precipitation, temperature and vegetation patterns. Soil and subsurface structure reflect systematic variation in geology from granitic, intrusive to mixed sedimentary clastic across headwater catchments, all draining to the alluvial or colluvial sediments of the former Lake Bonneville. Winter snowfall and spring snowmelt control annual hydroclimate, rapid population growth dominates geographic change in lower elevations and urban gas and particle emissions contribute to episodes of severe air pollution in this closed‐basin. Long‐term hydroclimate observations across this diverse landscape provide the foundation for an expanding network of infrastructure in both montane and urban landscapes. Current infrastructure supports both basic and applied research in atmospheric chemistry, biogeochemistry, climate, ecology, hydrology, meteorology, resource management and urban redesign that is augmented through strong partnerships with cooperating agencies. These features allow WEO to serve as a unique natural laboratory for addressing research questions facing seasonally snow‐covered, semi‐arid regions in a rapidly changing world and an excellent facility for providing student education and research training.
The Wasatch Environmental Observatory (WEO) combines an array of infrastructure supporting hydrologic, hydrochemical, atmospheric, climatic, meteorologic and ecologic research within the semi‐arid 2085‐km2 Jordan River Basin, Utah, USA. This basin is characterized by steep gradients in elevation and a mix of wildland montane to urban land uses. The diverse suite of fixed and mobile instrumentation managed by WEO is augmented by sensor networks operated by cooperative agencies that have recorded hydrologic and climatic data for over a century. Recent observations from the WEO network have revealed connections between water supply, water quality and atmospheric processes, all of which are responding to rapid environmental change and population growth within the WEO study area.
In Greenland, snow avalanches have been recognized as a significant hazard and a risk to communities for decades. However, prior to this study, no formal avalanche database nor avalanche forecasting ...service existed in Greenland. This study was conducted over the 2021–2022 snow season to advance snow science research in Greenland and provide the town of Sisimiut with an avalanche bulletin service based on snowpack stability, weather conditions, and avalanche activity monitoring data within the Sisimiut backcountry. Snowpack stratigraphies were assessed and stability tests were performed periodically using standardized methods, and the results were linked with daily weather monitoring and avalanche event characterization. The observed avalanche activity was dominated by slab avalanches, accounting for 96% of the registered events. Instabilities were mainly driven by specific temperature patterns, strong winds, and rain episodes. During cold and calm periods, slow kinetic growth of snow crystals in low-density layers was observed. Abrupt thermal increases were recurrent, resulting in softening of superficial slabs with consequent reactivation of buried weak layers, thus reducing snowpack stability. On the other hand, prolonged warmer temperatures lowered the thermal gradient within the snowpack, leading to rounding and bonding of weak layer grains, thus recovering the snowpack stability. As observed on three occasions, rain events caused the formation of persistent weak layers and should be considered a warning for future snowpack instability. As a result of this study, we retroactively linked local weather patterns with snowpack instability and provided the first periodical avalanche bulletin service for Sisimiut.
Some Perspectives on Avalanche Climatology Mock, Cary J.; Carter, Kristy C.; Birkeland, Karl W.
Annals of the American Association of Geographers,
03/2017, Letnik:
107, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Avalanche climatology is defined as the study of the relationships between climate and snow avalanches, and it contributes in aiding avalanche hazard mitigation efforts. The field has evolved over ...the past six decades concerning methodology, data monitoring and field collection, and interdisciplinary linkages. Avalanche climate research directions are also expanding concerning treatment in both spatial scale and temporal timescales. This article provides an overview of the main themes of avalanche climate research in issues of scale from local to global, its expanding interdisciplinary nature, as well as its future challenges and directions. The growth of avalanche climatology includes themes such as its transformation from being mostly descriptive to innovative statistical methods and modeling techniques, new challenges in microscale efforts that include depth hoar aspects and increased field studies, expanding synoptic climatology applications on studying avalanche variations, efforts to reconstruct past avalanches and relate them to climatic change, and research on potential avalanche responses to recent twentieth-century and future global warming. Some suggestions on future avalanche climatology research directions include the expansion of data networks and studies that include lesser developed countries, stronger linkages of avalanche climate studies with GIScience and remote sensing applications, more innovative linkages of avalanches with climate and societal applications, and increased emphases on modeling and process-oriented approaches.
In this article, I explore a Bayesian approach to avalanche decision-making. I motivate this perspective by highlighting a version of the base-rate fallacy and show that a similar pattern applies to ...decision-making in avalanche-terrain. I then draw out three theoretical lessons from adopting a Bayesian approach and discuss these lessons critically. Lastly, I highlight a number of challenges for avalanche educators when incorporating the Bayesian perspective in their curriculum.
In comparison to other disasters, snow avalanches endanger only a small part of surface of Slovenia, but they are problematic mostly because of their spatial and temporal unpredictability. Focusing ...on alpine landscape, the author studies the natural geographical characteristics of snow avalanches.
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