Every year, snow avalanches claim about 135 lives in North America and Europe. Most of these victims are private backcountry recreationists (e.g., skiers, snowmobilers, mountaineers) making their own decisions about when and where to expose themselves to avalanche terrain. But avalanches also threaten commercial backcountry operations, villages, utility lines, resource operations and cause traffic hazard and economic loss by blocking highways and railways.
Our research interests lie at the interface between the natural and social sciences, and our objective is to conduct interdisciplinary research and develop evidence-based tools that assist backcountry recreationists and avalanche professionals to make better informed decisions when preparing for and travelling in avalanche terrain.
This website provides you with an overview of our research at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.
Current Research Projects
Avalanche awareness among snowshoers and winter hikers
Snowshoers and winter hikers are a growing backcountry user group, but little is known about their avalanche awareness and risk management practices. In this project, we talk to more than 500 snowshoers and winter hikers to learn more about their practices and how to better communicate to them about avalanche risk.
Communication of Uncertainty in Public Avalanche Forecasts
Despite the importance and omnipresence of uncertainty in avalanche forecasting and risk management, there is very little research on the topic so far. This project aims to conduct the necessary background research to develop useful and feasible ways to communicate the extent and the characteristics of uncertainty in public avalanche forecasts.
Large-scale avalanche terrain exposure scale mapping for mountainous regions in Canada
Avalanche Terrain Exposure Scale (ATES) maps have become a key component of the Canadian and North American avalanche safety system, but only select areas have been mapped. This project aims to expand the existing ATES maps by employing autoATES, a computer model for characterizing avalanche terrain.
Research Tools
Click here to check out the standardized background questions we developed for avalanche safety surveys.
Links
Current conditions
Avalanche accidents
- Canada
- United States
- Europe
- Global Overview (compiled by SARP)
Development Collaborations
We are excited to be part of the following international avalanche forecasting development collaborations:
- AvaCollabra
A working group with the goal of fostering collaboration among researchers, software developers, and avalanche forecasters, to advance the development and application of snow cover models for operational avalanche forecasting. - AWSOME framework
An open source software distribution for snow cover modeling. Its goal is to provide a one-click solution to set up a whole range of fully automated snow stratigraphy and stability forecast model chains robust enough to run through the season unsupervised.
Recent Publications
Clustering simulated snow profiles to form avalanche forecast regions
A quantitative module of avalanche hazard—comparing forecaster assessments of storm and persistent slab avalanche problems with information derived from distributed snowpack simulations
Development of operational decision support tools for mechanized ski guiding using avalanche terrain modelling, GPS tracking, and machine learning
Assessing the impact of precipitation inputs on snowpack simulations in Western Canada