Investigating Slab Properties
Much avalanche work has focused on the formation and persistence
of weak layers. However, it is widely recognized that the
interaction between the slab and the weak layer are critical for
determining slope stability.
The Forest Service National Avalanche Center cooperated in a
field study of the temporal and spatial variability of slab properties
with Mark Kozak, a graduate student in the Department of Earth
Resources at Colorado State University, and Dr. Kelly Elder, Mark's
advisor. During the 1999/2000 winter, Mark collected data
from a number of study plots in and around Jackson Hole Ski Area
in Wyoming. Mark's analysis formed the basis for his MSc
thesis, which he completed in 2002. He presented some of
his results at ISSW 2000 in Big Sky, and published more complete
results in the at the 2002 ISSW. Mark also published a paper in
Cold Regions Science and Technology.
Mark's papers:
Kozak, M., K. Elder, K. Birkeland and P. Chapman. Variability
of snow later hardness by aspect and prediction using meteorological
factors. Cold Reg. Sci. Tech. 37(3), 357-371. [Abstract]
[Article]
Kozak, M., K. Elder, K. Birkeland, and P. Chapman. 2002. Predicting
snow layer hardness with meteorological factors. Proceedings
of the 2002 International Snow Science Workshop, Penticton,
BC, Canada, 329-336. [Article]
Kozak, M., K. Elder, K. Birkeland, C. Chapman. 2002. Investigating
the relationship between slab hardness and the stuffblock stability
test. The Avalanche Review, 21(2), 12-13.
Kozak, M., K. Elder, and K. Birkeland. 2000. The spatial and
temporal variability of slab hardness. Proceedings of the 2000
International Snow Science Workshop, Big Sky, Montana, 115-120.
Since his degree, Mark has been spending his winter time heli-ski
guiding in Alaska and Utah and teaching avalanche courses for
the Bridger-Teton National
Forest Avalanche Center. I asked him for a photo of his field
work, but he replied that field work was a pretty lonely affair
and instead he sent me this photo of him ski cutting the hangfire
of an avalanche on the backside of Grand Targhee.
