2 June 2013

The physics of snow and ice – two videos

Posted by Dave Petley

Whilst my interest in landslides does not really extend to snow and ice avalanches, sometimes the flow of snow and ice can be quite informative about the ways in which landslides work.  Two videos have popped up recently that illustrate this – both on Livelink.  The first shows a slow snow avalanche in Austria, but in landslide terms this is quite similar to a slow debris flow:

 

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The interesting aspect of this is the way that the structure of the mass and the comparatively low velocities allow the complexities of the flow to be examined. Thanks to Pasi Jokela for highlighting this one.

The second is a video from the Kuskokwim River in Alaska.  This hows the importance of momentum, and in particular the ways in which mobile masses behind the front on the flow influences behaviour:

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