Development and calibration of a preliminary cellular automata model for snow avalanches

Numerical modelling is a major challenge in the prevention of risks related to the occurrence of catastrophic phenomena. A Cellular Automata methodology was developed for modelling large scale (extended for kilometres) dangerous surface flows of different nature such as lava flows, pyroclastic flows, debris flows, rock avalanches, etc. This paper presents VALANCA, a first version of a Cellular Automata model, developed for the simulations of dense snow avalanches. VALANCA is largely based on SCIDDICA-SS2, the most advanced model of the SCIDDICA family developed for flow-like landslides. VALANCA adopts several of its innovations: outflows characterized by their mass centre position and explicit velocity. First simulations of real past snow avalanches occurred in Switzerland in 2006 show a satisfying agreement, concerning avalanche path, snow cover erosion depth and deposit thickness and areal distribution. © 2010 Springer-Verlag