| The EU programme CADZIE (Catastrophic
Avalanches: Defence Structures and Zoning in Europe), was established
after the catastrophic 1999 avalanche winter in Europe. The overall
objective of the programme is improved snow avalanche risk management by:
(1) improved avalanche hazard zoning by computational models; and (2)
improved understanding of the interaction between defence structures and
avalanches.
One contribution to meet the objectives is a database of
well-documented extreme or deflected avalanche events in the six countries
of the partners of the programme. The database contains observational,
topographical and meteorological snow avalanche data with reliability, as
well as references, copyrights, etc., all in a convenient framework based
on common formats.
The structure, contents, and potential use of the
database are described. Example calculations of extreme and deflected
events made by the NGI user interface "SKRED", for practical use
of avalanche computational models, present applications of the database.
Finally, further development of the database and of the computational
models to meet the future needs in avalanche hazard zoning is proposed. |