Schulich researchers improve avalanche prediction

By Amanda Snyder

Schulich School of Engineering researchers at the University of Calgary have developed a new and promising test to help better predict avalanches.

The propagation saw test (PST) will help snow scientists and avalanche experts better assess the spreading tendency of cracks in snow pack layers, which often lead to avalanches.

Bruce Jamieson, an associate professor in civil engineering and NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Snow Avalanche Risk Control, demonstrated the test during Avalanche Awareness Days last weekend at Sunshine Village Ski and Snowboard Resort.

Jamieson’s research team, with members from the departments of civil engineering and geoscience, started research on the saw test in 2003. In late 2007, the group confirmed its final degree of reliability.

The introduction of this new forecasting method arrives in a year when the risk of avalanches is greater than normal.

“Many areas have a rain crust that was buried in early December. This test can help forecasters decide if avalanches are likely to release on the crust,” says Jamieson.

Unlike previous avalanche prediction tests, the propagation saw test allows avalanche professionals to test weak layers deeper than 40 centimetres. Other pit tests rely on a surface load to trigger a collapse in a weak layer of snow. But these methods fail to reach deep layers of instability in the snow.

–—With files from the Calgary Herald.