Air Wave Accompanying a Snow Avalanche

• Main Author: Matveev,S. N.
• Other Authors: COLD REGIONS RESEARCH AND ENGINEERING LAB HANOVER N H
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1971
• Subjects: Snow; Ice and Permafrost; (*AVALANCHES; *GUSTS); AIR; MOTION; STRUCTURES; PROPAGATION; THEORY; DAMAGE; USSR; TRANSLATIONS; Ice; permafrost
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/AD0720077; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=AD0720077

It is known that during the descent of avalanches there occurs a sudden hurrican-like gust of wind moving ahead of the Flaig. Light buildings fly apart like cardboard houses long before they are reached by the snow masses of the powdery avalanche, usually of comparatively small size. In some cases the destructive effect of the snow masses themselves is slight, while the air masses induced into motion by the descending avalanche cause tremendous destruction. The author concludes that the air wave is caused by a sharp, sudden compression of the air during the free fall of the masses (both snow and rock) and, the free fall of snow masses, which is a precursor of the genesis of an air wave with avalanches, occurs in the case when the avalanche stream breaks off from a ledge. (Author) Trans. of Problemy Fizicheskoi Geografii (USSR) v9 p83-90 1940 (sic).