When planning to protect a specific section of road or a settlement against avalanches, a decision has to be taken on which of the options – barriers or a snow shed – is the most suitable means of defence. A variety of online tools are now available to facilitate an assessment of the risk posed by natural hazards, and to examine the effectiveness and economy of different protective measures.

Available languages: German English French Italian

A key factor determining the trajectories of rockfalls is rock-shape. But which rock-shapes are the most dangerous? Using rockfall experiments with special motion sensors and a new rockfall model that can simulate real rock-shapes; we are beginning to answer these questions.

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What is concealed beneath the white snow surface? SLF scientists measure the properties of the snowpack in several places in order to investigate its spatial variability and the impact of this variability on snowpack stability. The purpose of this research is to eventually improve the description of local differences in the avalanche bulletin in the future.

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Warning and alarm systems are part of a number of measures in an integrative approach to risk management for natural hazards. Alongside well proven protection measures (e.g. dams, galleries and nets), warning and alarm systems are becoming increasingly important and are applied as viable and cost-efficient risk mitigation measures.

Available languages: German English

The avalanche bulletin format has been revised to coincide with the start of the 2012/13 winter season. Not only is the new format easier to read on the internet and smartphones, but the content has also been improved in a variety of ways.

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India is regularly associated with heat, spicy food, masses of people – and avalanches? Although not a phenomenon that immediately springs to mind, Indian avalanches are part and parcel of everyday life at the moment for SLF employee Yves Bühler. At the beginning of April 2012 he left Switzerland with his family to work for three months at the Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment (SASE) in Manali.

Available languages: German English

A new Swiss test-site for avalanche experiments has been built to study the overall dynamic behaviour of dense-flow and powder-snow avalanches and to measure avalanche impact forces along their path. The site began operation in 1997/1998 and is a milestone of avalanche dynamics research at the WSL-SLF.

Available languages: German English French

White Risk is the SLF app for all those who engage in winter activities in the mountains outside marked and open pistes. It gives access to the interactive avalanche bulletin in German, French, Italian and English, as well as the latest snow and weather data for Switzerland. White Risk also provides useful background knowledge to assist in assessing the avalanche danger.

Available languages: German English French Italian

Within the framework of an international research project, the SLF and its German and Austrian partners are using a radar system to conduct a non-destructive investigation of the snowpack from underneath. The goal is to observe the individual layers of the snowpack and their properties and change over time.

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In the field of natural hazards there is a strong need for process models. Researchers of WSL develop a unified software package, for both research and practice, where different kinds of processes are combined in one tool. The package consists of the process modules debris flow, rockfall, snowcover and avalanche, a protect module and a visualization module.

Available languages: German English French Italian