Recent Advances in Induced Snow Avalanche Release and Monitoring

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue of Geosciences aims to gather high-quality original research articles, reviews, and technical notes on induced snow avalanche triggering for research and applications of mountain natural hazard.

The importance of understanding the induced triggering mechanisms of both slab and wet snow avalanches is very strong, especially in these years of climate change and economic crisis.

Climate change is leading us to deal with new releases and dynamics of snow avalanches that are very different from those studied and modeled up to now. This makes it more difficult to forecast detachment and dynamics based on current weather conditions.

In addition, research in the avalanche sector is now focused on the forecasting and management of small and medium-sized avalanches, especially with regard to risk management on roads and ski areas. In fact, these are the cases where controlled avalanche blasting represents an interesting solution also from an economic point of view.

Nevertheless, it remains to be explored and demonstrated how the current methods are suitable for timely management, what their limitations are, and to what extent they are accessible and used effectively by the practitioner community. Not to be missed is the induced release caused by the interference of the anthropic winter activities, the triggering mechanisms of which are still not clear today.

Furthermore, it remains to be explored how natural and artificial vibrations interact with the snowpack and alter its stability.

Case studies and field experiences are widely recognized and welcome as a source of information and comparison for the advancement of international research.

Therefore, I would like to invite you to submit articles on your recent work, experimental research, or case studies, including mechanical models with respect to the above and/or the following topics:

• Artificial avalanche triggering: gas, explosives, etc.;
• Earthquake-induced avalanche release;
• Wet-snow avalanches triggered by peculiar weather conditions;
• Human triggers: skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, etc.;
• Temporary avalanche control and detection systems.

I also encourage you to send me a short abstract outlining the purpose of your research and the principal results obtained, in order to verify at an early stage if the contribution you intend to submit fits with the objectives of the Special Issue.

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Geosciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Artificial avalanche triggering 
• Mechanical models 
• Explosives 
• Gas systems 
• Earthquake 
• Wet-snow avalanche 
• Human triggers 
• Detection systems 
• Best practice 
• Case studies