Following of snow meteorological episodes and avalanches.

In this project, snow thickness is monitored with the aim of studying episodes with avalanche activity and better understanding the triggers, meteorological, terrain or - in the case of accidental avalanches - human factor [1] [2].

During the winter, the formation, and evolution of the weak layers located within the snow thickness is systematically monitored, as well as the monitoring of avalanche activity episodes. Observations are usually made in the Estanyó circus sector, in Sorteny, where one of the weather stations of the National Meteorological Service is located. Recently, AR+I has developed a new indicator to characterise winter seasons [3].

Additional observations are also made in other areas when mapping the terrain for the ATES project. Snow thickness profiles are also made in areas where accidental avalanches have occurred or in particular situations with interesting stratigraphy to follow.

Thanks to the observations made after the accidents and the exhaustive research of old documentation, in 2024 the first geo-referenced database of accidents for avalanche in Andorra was presented. [4]

On the other hand, at the end of 2019, the SNOWPACK model was put into operation for the Sorteny and Perafita weather stations (the latter was decommissioned in 2022). This program is used to model snow thickness and its stratigraphy. In this sense, weekly observations are made near the weather station in order to compare the profiles made manually with the output of the automatic model and thus be able to detect limitations of the model in order to improve it.

[1] A. Margalef, A. Albalat, L. Trapero, G. Martín. "Quan gairebé tot falla: crònica i anàlisi d'un accident al pic de l'Estanyó (Andorra)". 2024. 

[2] J. Gavaldà, I. González, A. Margalef, G. Martí, P. Oller "Resumen de la accidentalidad por aludes temporada 2023-2024", 2024.

[3] A. Albalat, L. Trapero, M. Lemus-Canovas, M. Pons. “Exploring the use of a Multivariate Snow Index in the Pyrenees to characterize snow seasons”, in International Snow Science Workshop 2024, Tromsø, Norway. 

[4] A. Margalef, A. Albalat, J. Apodaka, M. Pons, L. Trapero. “New georeferenced avalanche database in Andorra: a brief characterization of accidents over the last 60 years”. in International Snow Science Workshop 2024, Tromsø, Norway.