Multiscale modeling of snow and avalanche mechanics

Research on snow mechanics and avalanche processes is paramount for avalanche forecasting and management. One of the main challenges in this field is to better understand snow avalanches, as a multiscale process, controlled by failure mechanisms at the scale of individual snow grains in the snowpack, in order to ultimately improve the evaluation of snow stability. While modern measurement techniques largely contributed to the progress made over the last decade, an improved picture of the influence of mechanical and microstructural properties of snow on avalanche processes is achieved through a multiscale and multi-physics modeling framework developed in our group (Fig. 1).