Item: Snow cornice development and failure monitoring Title:
Snow cornice development and failure monitoring Proceedings:
Proceedings of the 2006 International Snow Science Workshop,
Telluride, Colorado Authors: Robert A. Burrows and David M.
McClung, Avalanche Research Group, Department of Geography,
University of British Columbia Abstract: Snow cornices are
significant winter alpine and snow avalanche hazards. A cornice
is a leeward growing mass of snow overhanging from a ridge or
sharp break in slope (perpendicular to the ridgeline) due to
windblown snow (Seligman, 1936). A cornice’s usual topographic
position and cantilevered slab structure, regularly above large
avalanche prone slopes, makes cornices crucial to consider from
a risk perspective. Although cornices are extensively controlled
in avalanche operations, they have been given little attention
in science. Only basic work has been done on their formation,
development, structure and control, with limited focus and
geographic extent (Kobayashi, 1988,