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Snow and Avalanches

Mountain snowpack is important in providing spring melt water to down-slope ecosystems. However, snowpack can also threaten humans and ecosystems when destructive avalanches are triggered. The Ecosystems Land Change Science Program is investigating avalanche frequency and magnitude and assessing climatic and human drivers of avalanches to improve public safety and mitigate impacts to society.

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Snow and Avalanche Research

Snow scientists with the USGS are unraveling specific weather, climate, and snowpack factors that contribute to large magnitude avalanches in an effort to understand these events as both a hazard and a landscape–level disturbance. The Snow and Avalanche Project (SNAP) advances our understanding of avalanche-climate interactions and wet snow avalanches, and improves public safety through innovative...
Snow and Avalanche Research

Snow and Avalanche Research

Snow scientists with the USGS are unraveling specific weather, climate, and snowpack factors that contribute to large magnitude avalanches in an effort to understand these events as both a hazard and a landscape–level disturbance. The Snow and Avalanche Project (SNAP) advances our understanding of avalanche-climate interactions and wet snow avalanches, and improves public safety through innovative...
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