SnowpackSnowpack is an accumulation of snow that compresses with time and melts seasonally, often at high elevation or high latitude. Snowpacks are an important water resource that feed streams and rivers as they melt, sometimes leading to flooding. Snowpacks provide water to down-slope communities for drinking and agriculture. High-latitude or high-elevation snowpacks contribute mass to glaciers in their accumulation zones, where annual snow deposition exceeds annual melting.
Avalanche controlAvalanche control or avalanche defense activities reduce the hazard avalanches pose to human life, activity, and property. Avalanche control begins with a risk assessment conducted by surveying for potential avalanche terrain by identifying geographic features such as vegetation patterns, drainages, and seasonal snow distribution that are indicative of avalanches.
LandslideLandslides, also known as landslips, rockslips, rockfalls, mudslides, mudslips or rockslides, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, mudflows, shallow or deep-seated slope failures and debris flows. Landslides occur in a variety of environments, characterized by either steep or gentle slope gradients, from mountain ranges to coastalcliffs or even underwater, in which case they are called submarine landslides.
Powder snow avalancheA powder snow avalanche is a type of avalanche where snow grains are largely or completely suspended and moved by air in a state of fluid turbulence. They are particle-laden gravity currents and closely related to turbidity currents, pyroclastic flows from volcanoes and dust storms in the desert.
MudflowA mudflow, also known as mudslide or mud flow, is a form of mass wasting involving fast-moving flow of debris and dirt that has become liquified by the addition of water. Such flows can move at speeds ranging from three to five metres per second (9.8 to 16.4 ft/s). Mudflows contain a significant proportion of clay, which makes them more fluid than debris flows, allowing them to travel farther and across lower slope angles.Slush flowA slushflow is rapid mass movement of water and snow, and is categorized as a type of debris flow. Slushflows are caused when water reaches a critical concentration in the snowpack due to more water inflow than outflow. The high water concentration weakens the cohesion of the snow crystals and increases the weight of the snowpack.
SnowSnow is a form of solid atmospheric precipitation consisting of individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the air—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground, where they undergo further changes.
Grade (slope)The grade (US) or gradient (UK) (also called slope, incline, mainfall, pitch or rise) of a physical feature, landform or constructed line is either the elevation angle of that surface to the horizontal or its tangent. It is a special case of the slope, where zero indicates horizontality. A larger number indicates higher or steeper degree of "tilt".
EarthquakeSudden movement of the Earth's crustEarthquake epicenters occur mostly along tectonic plate boundaries, especially on the Pacific Ring of Fire.An earthquake, also called a quake, tremor, or temblor, is the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves.
SeracA serac (; from Swiss French, a type of cheese) is a block or column of glacial ice, often formed by intersecting crevasses on a glacier. Commonly house-sized or larger, they are dangerous to mountaineers and alpinists, since they may topple with little warning. Even if stabilized by persistent cold weather, they can be an impediment to glacier travel. Seracs are found within an icefall, often in large numbers, or on ice faces on the lower edge of a hanging glacier.
Ice sheetLarge mass of glacial iceOne of Earth's two ice sheets: The Antarctic ice sheet covers about 98% of the Antarcticcontinent and is the largest single mass of ice on Earth. It has an average thickness of over 2 kilometers.In glaciology, an ice sheet, also known as a continental glacier, is a mass of glacialice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than 50,000 km (19,000 sq mi). The two current ice sheets are the Antarctic ice sheet and the Greenland ice sheet.
Natural disasterType of adverse eventEconomic loss risk for six natural disasters: tropical cyclones, droughts, earthquakes, floods, landslides, and volcanoes.A natural disaster is the very harmful impact on a society or community brought by a natural phenomenon or hazard. Some examples of natural hazards include avalanches, droughts, earthquakes, floods, heat waves, landslides - including submarine landslides, tropical cyclones, volcanic activity and wildfires.
Special:Search/AvalancheRelated word or term.*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.