3 film series we look at the science of avalanches don't forget to get all the latest news information around the clock on our website but stay w. dot com i'm terry martin you'll find me on twitter at news stream thanks for watching. it's all happening to children in. your link to news from africa and the world to your link to exceptional stories and discussions can you and will come to the debut suffocating program tonight from 4 newseum to me from the news it's easy it's our website dedicated could smash africa join us on facebook at g.w. africa.

the alps breathtaking panoramic views magical snow covered peaks and a magnetic pull for tourists but there's a hidden danger here too avalanches each year around $100.00 people lose their lives in the mountains. and kids are still a vision it's hard to imagine the devastating consequences of a natural disaster like an avalanche if you've never seen one unfortunate truck on time was completely buried my brother you know kind everyone knows the statistics of what happens in the 1st 15 minutes determines whether you survive and we expect that kind of change. the dynamic of the avalanche in a fundamental way right now we think that in the short term let's say 20 years you might actually see a little bit more avalanches. in just seconds

a peaceful snowy landscape can become a deadly catastrophe. avalanches destroy everything in their path and leave behind silence. across europe physicists engineers geologists statisticians historians and then draw logistics are studying these unique forces of nature to better understand and predict them. mountain guides rescue teams an avalanche warning services all rely on their research to save lives in the moment and in the future. because we never know exactly when an avalanche will occur but we do know that skiers snowboarders and hikers are often the cause. 90 percent of all avalanches are triggered by humans and in recent years researchers practitioners tourists and those living in the mountains have been facing yet

another element of uncertainty the weather. is climate change impacting how avalanches are forms and when they occur. we spent an entire winter company with them on their search of how to regain control over the white death. avalanches can travel at speeds of up to 300 kilometers an hour they tear down trees destroy houses vehicles even entire ski resorts and they cost lives. indigenous mountain dwellers used to believe they were caused by which crabs it was impossible to comprehend that nature alone could be so destructive. today despite understanding how avalanches form we still can't stop them. more people will lose their lives to avalanches this winter. davos in

december 'd the winters. port season in one of the alps most popular resort says just begun. as the 1st tourists arrive switzerland's institute for snow and avalanche research known as s l f launches its latest project engineer betty sylvia is examining the movement patterns of avalanches. and we have suspected chemical change affect the dynamic of avalanche in a fundamental way so what we already saw is that what we already know is climate changes increasing temperature temperature or are increasing also in the snow cover and we know that the property of there is no change a lot when they come close to 0 degree and we expect more snow close to 0 degree a lower altitude in future a time so i went in and it is going to produce

a lot of worm avelox t.v. we called also wet the avalanche of the which is a kind of out in a 2nd he would be we know a few so we don't know much of these kind of avalanches. the s.l.s. has classified 5 types of avalanches one is a wet snow avalanche it starts with a slab of snow or loose no moving and often occurs without further triggering after rain or a short warm spell. it's caused by excess water in the top layer which weakens the lower layers of the snow pack. 10 percent of all victims lose their lives to this type of avalanche. so obvious colleague alex on have vine and researches the formation of avalanches and for the 1st time he's examining a potential link to climate change. and what i'm specifically interested in to know how climate is affecting evidence is how it's going to change the likelihood that ever ices will really and to notice you have to look into the snow cover and look

at how the weather affects the living in the stuff we always have hypothesis that at the start of a new project or when we start to study something new. but you need those 2 to prove or disprove them and right now less than what we know is less than 0 doesn't necessarily mean less evidence. because less than 0 could be more unstable snow. so right now we think that in the short term let's say 20 years you might actually see a little bit more avalanches in the long term however as we want to up i think i see less evidence. there in the swiss canton ballet the s l f test zone is some 500 kilometers from davos. automatic thermal cameras geo radars geophones and speedometers register

every moment the recordings are regularly analyzed. the last good fairly interesting feature of the slope this avalanche observation field is primarily its length from these are long it's 1200 meters long it gives us the chance to observe major avalanches that we classes catastrophic. monitors and controls the tests as head of security he regularly checks the systems in the shelter. the bunker is designed to withstand being buried in a novel it's an ingenious system. very severe will be observing the test zone throughout the winter in order to examine avalanches and their connection to changes in climate. their experiment can

help very match the understand climate change so in the past there evidence i'm sorry and since been only concentrated in study the movement of the avalanche without taking into account which snow was moving into the flow now we understood that if we understand the link between there's no and the movement of the avalanche then we have a voice not very far part of the battle to understand the inference and climate change an avalanche because we are suspect. there is not quite the warming now so when we know the link between there's no core and the avalanche we know what doesn't mean a world without found this in a corner for the movement of the floor. the primary goal of avalanche research is to understand up all the inches so it can predict their occurrence and limit the damage they cause. even when not fatal avalanches can be disastrous and

experiencing one can leave survivors traumatized a few years ago sabot shots was buried in an avalanche while out hiking in snowshoes and alexander graham has avalanche count she's learning how to react if it should happen again. this think it's me i need to know that you all have a shovel a probe and a vs device with you either by or under and then we can get started like the cooks a frog and a quick question via phone or have any of you ever experienced an avalanche and i love you nick. savage raises her hand she's embarking on a 2 day intensive course an avalanche safety with the other members of the group. returning to the mountain hasn't been easy. to. damage my name garnered when i was visiting the studio with my brother and my dad

around 10 years ago and we had been snowshoeing for a couple of days on from own the way back down we were hit by an avalanche all 3 of us were buried my brother managed to take himself out and then he found my dad he was partially buried i was completely buried with it it was my brother who dug me out and so yes i've been meaning to do an avalanche safety course ever since gun loving course of the mom. what buried sabot alive that day was a slab avalanche one of the most deadly avalanches. it's responsible for 90 percent of all casualties all it takes is an uninterrupted layer of loose snow a slope that's at least 30 degrees and something to trigger the fault line. this avalanche is around 50 meters wide and up to 200 meters long. the one that hit zob it was 180 meters wide and nearly 350 meters long.

in the camp skiers and mountain tourists learn how to prepare for a potential avalanche and what every winter sport enthusiasm should carry with them when exploring the mountain alexander luma starts by discussing materials. the proper equipment can save lives. to get somebody out of an avalanche you're going to need some good gear. the aim to get the best shot believe you can not makes a huge difference. nobody should venture into the mountains without a shovel a detector and a probe. the light metal rod helps locate victims buried beneath the snow. that's here this is an old fashioned pro than it still works. out at least if you want to sheet we don't have much time.

you have a few tie this one fits into your rucksack and once removed and shaken it's ready to use immediately was the not for now and it's tough. that's the ok. 90 percent of all avalanches are triggered by humans every winter sports enthusiasts need to be able to gauge whether a situation is safe and to know what to do if trouble strikes. there's no question that the risk of avalanches in the alps needs to be monitored closely. by joining forces regional teams hope to improve the warning systems spanning across europe's largest mountain range. the alps began to form over 130000000 years ago they now span 1200 kilometers across 7 different countries. italy france switzerland. germany austria and slovenia.

long in france is the tallest peak standing 4810 meters tall. some 13600000 people call the alps home. every year 100000000 tourists descend on the world's largest ski area. despite boosting the local economy 100000000 tourists pose some major challenges when it comes to keeping residents seasonal workers and visitors safe. rudy meyer is head of 2 roles avalanche warning services every day he and his colleagues assess the snow conditions and identify potential hazards sounds. meyer has also observed a change in snow quality and the types of avalanches forming. in this anniversary every winter is different from the last converse in the only thing

we know for sure is that rainfall has been increasing over the years. we've also observed an increase in the number of slab avalanches off the mall where a whole layer of snow slips away from the ground from the up your body. is creating a snow profile like a cross-section of the snow cover. he's brought a magnifying glass to help them identify the so-called weak layer in the snow. we have been in for we seem to have long periods of fine weather an autumn when it stays warm people wear t. shirts in october and november temperatures are in the mid twenty's and the ground doesn't freeze the borders when the 1st snow arrives in december around 30 to 40 centimeters wolves on bloom ground snow is a great insulator that's why i need to work the so that 1st layer prevents the ground from freezing the surface area between the ground and snows about 0 degrees

it's damn glasses if there's grass beneath it or the wet snow begins to slide off the grass ultimately leading to a slab avalanche and again. he examines the snow conditions at different altitudes before rating the risk of an avalanche level one is low by it's very high . the avalanche danger scale has been uniform across europe since 1993 so what has it would be my of discovery. how does he see the current situation in spock's mountains. as it was hard to for the most interesting thing for me today was estimating where the rain for line was it's so important to know because the risk of an avalanche is much higher where it is rained being rained destroys the bonding between snow crystals i would grade the area below 1600 metres as risk level 3 which is considerable because the snow cover is very wet but any above 1600 metres or there has been some new snow but not enough to class is critical i'd rate

it risk level 2 which is moderate on still fits. despite official risk levels for many winter sports enthusiasts see no reason to stop skiing or snowboarding. and when an avalanche is triggered they are often the culprits. the avalanche risk level is graded from one low to 5 extremely high interesting lead the risk level where most incidents occur is level 3 considerable level 3 is used for around a 3rd of the days in the winter season you get 2 thirds of all accidents happen during level 3 warnings as shows and people underestimate the dangers of an avalanche will feel the shits and.

it's january alex can't have fine and is accompanying 2 postgraduate students into the woods close to the institute. they want to examine how quickly a crack in the layers can spread. there's been a lot of snow this winter leaving perfect conditions for fast and back felt ph d. project. we're conducting an experiment on fracture propagation if we can layer is always at the bottom. i'm here i'm seeing so we're going to saw into it and see how far it spreads and i till the end i was right that with some ending. the so-called propagation saw test looks at how quickly a break in the snow cover spreads. to collect all the data he needs all that creates a snow profile snow is not simply a physical state there are 17 types of snow and no 2 snowflakes are the same.

fresh now has a branched crystal structure that slowly disappears it becomes old snow which melts as soon as temperatures rise becoming wet snow. snow profile is important to understand how the snow cover is constructed and that depends on the weather the snow cover keeps changing every time it snows a new layer is created essentially the snow cover told the story of winter this is no from the start of the season and this is yesterday snow climate has a huge impact on the weather if the climate is changing then our weather will change too and that in turn has an impact on the structure of the snow cover the. final preparations. bastiaan marks the snow with a die so that the fracture will be visible. in stars cameras to record the experiment in slow motion. when you can start sawing though.

the far lower lower. the fracture along the length of the weak layer of snow can be seen clearly after just a few seconds of soft. it have mechanics but i haven't ever done an experiment long enough to see the full extent of the break it in mine. so hopefully this time we'll be able to see a quick break at the start which then continues to spread at a constant speed vindicates the house quiet on bats a mostly experiment needs to be long enough to observe a steady break speed weapons i hope we've captured it all this time you see how. late january for days now it's been snowing in davos and further east in the alps the lips are closed and the highest hazard warning has been issued. 22 people have

already lost their lives to avalanches in switzerland and austria. there's been a powder snow avalanche this happens when a slab avalanche falls down a large slope and snow mixes with their. powder avalanches occur when the risk levels high and can travel at speeds of up to 300 kilometers an hour. the paths to the institute for snow and avalanche research are still being cleared alec and his postgraduate students set out. with these small devices help the researchers work out the speed at which avalanches form along the fracture line. cascade regime for us but it's all about how the break in the snow cover spreads and that's

a wide ranging scale of tens or hundreds of metres which makes it difficult to test them but that's why we have these accelerations senses we throw them into the field and the reverberation triggers a break in the weak layer that spreads from opposition if it works the senses will record everything and we can work out the spread speed using the toy. times and position is lost but in space when the coverage and the diva actually xix merriment to design to give us a better understanding of how a break in the snow cover spreads and the break is the crucial part without a break the avalanche wouldn't happen. the researchers next step is to trigger an avalanche on flat ground. the devices they toss out contain acceleration sensors. they jump around to create vibrations. game.

was good that is it was a good one for god as the whole slope just vibrated so we must have destroyed the weak layer beneath us causing the break to spread across the area here now we need to determine the characteristics of the snow cover and measure the exact position at each point create a snow profile and this device here will take exact measurements of the snow cover . to survive in the mountains it's vital that free riders snowshoers and cross-country skiers learn to assess the snow covered. nature gives us clues as to whether there's a risk of an avalanche and again 90 percent of all avalanches are triggered by humans but xander loma is training the group to interpret conditions accurately push out of my comp look at the exposed their areas they start how steep the slope

isn't finished does anything ring alarm bells. there are the. moments that we know that this direction is roughly south so these eastern slopes are bad news according to the avalanche reporter and there are a lot of stones and rocks visible so the slope must be steep probably over 40 degrees it's been pretty windy too judging by the size of the snow cornices up there. on the priority of everything. for me that there's way too much drift snow that to look at those cornices on. cornices are layers of densely packed snow that spell out danger on slopes prone to avalanches alexander romas training courses aim to lower the number of people who fall victim to avalanches. knowing how to respond in an emergency could be the difference between life and death. participants learn how to use a thin metal rod known as

a probe to find buried victims. for this exercise one member of the group has volunteered to be buried beneath the snow. what does it feel like. the cold and it does tell you it's cold and everything sounds muffled i can't begin to imagine what it would feel like if all the snow was on top of me as he was terrifying the force of it's ok like this but it must feel like you incased in cement one comes and if someone above poking you with the president he knows that help is on the way out i would be frightened that the space you have to breathe would collapse around into the system deal or feel we're going to use the probe to practice digging someone out later if you had some screws the last straw it will be lying here and you're going to attempt to get around on the inside there you'll start from the other side out there because this would be where the avalanche has occurred let's all be timing you and i promise none of you will feel the cold at

the end of this exit. size cut. the 1st things a bit learns is to differentiate between hitting something hard or finding a person beneath the snow. i think this is a case of practice makes perfect body you need to practice to get quicker and more confident. it's bringing back some difficult memories call me. a catastrophic avalanche and to roll in austria also brings back painful memories to the village of god to us. on february 23rd 1990 4 pm a 400 metre wide slab of snow broke away from the tour all in ski resort as a crash down the mountain towards the village it's split multiple times destroying houses and burying over 50 people. you know you have i was

doing avalanche reports that we and it hadn't been snowing nonstop for 3 weeks at bible and i knew that if it didn't stop it would cause problems and we could expect some major avalanches and of course in every major avalanches need a lot of snow and in just kept coming in the north made it i knew exactly what would happen and that was the worst part is that is feeling so helpless and how are less because you simply can't stop it and it's one and the roads were already closed as they were covered in snow from previous avalanches so we couldn't evacuate people is that the snowflakes were the size of sources as it was no way a helicopter could have got out there but there was nothing we could do that it's and i felt like i was waiting for something to happen and then unfortunately it did because here. goes right it was horrifying you had to see it to believe it and if you've never

witnessed an avalanche it's high. to understand how destructive a natural disaster can be and the damage it can do for sure. 31 people lost their lives that day miraculously 19 of those very survived. but when i say need a fire inside i'm a something's that definitely improved since then once on a plane tj's owns have been expanded meaning there are more areas that can't be built on one or only using special measures like take a wall and tougher glazing was the how but the main improvement has been how we manage avalanche warnings on so nowadays we can issue them much much sooner than for you know for vonage. every day really meyer checks the snow conditions when it comes to determining hazard levels austria's alpine regions work closely with italy

game. it's the 1st collaboration of its kind worldwide across border multi-lingual avalanche report black hole southern to roll and trentino the set a milestones we have one of the best systems in the world at the moment. when winter sports enthusiasts often cross national borders in pursuit of their hobby they don't care which country they're in it's the snow that counts. this is the 1st season avalanche reports are available online in a choice of languages. international avalanche warning services meet every 2 years to discuss whether any changes need to be made to the risk scale. it's february an emergency exercise for to roles mountain rescue team.

these dogs are being trained to find people buried in an avalanche. all the stuff you see it's they're still in training so the goal for the dogs is to find pull victims without our help. over 61 avalanche and rescue dog teams work for to rose mountain rescue. 15 minutes that's the magic number around 60 to 90 percent of those buried in an avalanche make it out alive in the 1st 15 minutes after that things look bleak or. airspace can extend chances up to 90 minutes after 2 and a half hours the chance of survival is slim. as of my we're usually called out once an avalanche has happened and it takes time to scramble a helicopter and get the rescue chain moving one thing forget not their option even in the best case scenario it takes about 20 minutes before we are on site with the

dogs for all the time can and when you and everyone has heard of the 15 minute window that's central to survival as we were leaving when by the time we arrived with the dogs it's often too late to faith is why a volunteer basis rescue teams are essential to come on i think 14 year 3. dogs finally toon sense of smell make them perfect for locating avalanche victims but it takes a lot of training and regular practice. to roles mountain rescue team has structured plans for their canine teams. in his voice areas to say this is phase one an open hole. the dogs have to locate their handlers people so obviously from the front the handlers take group boards with them like toys and the dogs need to find them independently so we call. it

has to be found like a game search box we don't put pressure. on the dogs. the next step for the dog is to learn how to take out their handler and a stranger. finally they head for the mountain. we always found we've chosen 2 dogs for this task it's by who that should be enough it was the size of this search area and we have to assume that no other dogs are available at the moment. although the 1st 15 minutes are critical long before mountain rescue teams arrive speed is still of the essence. the team trains regularly on emergency.

as minus the flood as it was a very realistic rehearsal in my opinion which this team was under stress all i could tell. and we created the drama deliberately both for the alpine police for this well as for the head of the rescue mission i thought i supplied the but i thought there was some good work out there on the avalanche field as mine especially by the dogs is on the go at the. winter sports enthusiasts often hold their lives to the commitment and expertise of mountain rescue teams. betty sylvia relies on the support of her colleagues for her research. her postgraduate student the schild keyboards is examining avalanche force and global. rebuild often does the bill when it comes to the fast moving avalanches it's like

here. awarded my wouldn't those dozen for homes of fast be run into the world the more it hurts when i'm in love even is this gulf war much temperature avalanches are an interesting phenomenon here vinick of through that these speeds he would expect less falls off it up mesnick about the measurements we've taken don't confirm this it does this we're trying to work out why that is for students of history any moment. now phenomenon that scientists want to understand better using recordings from the test zone. that you should be there this media was shot by a high speed camera installed on out 20 meter pylon and boundless yano way below its record of the interaction between the launch and he obstacles and that's part of the effects on c n n p s obstacles measure speed till all the. temperature and density lisa with the

better to date that. warm weather causes snow temperatures to rise snow becomes wetter and heavier leading to more force in slower avalanches. this increases the destructive power of the slipping snow masses. back to the rescue exercise an avalanche camp. decide how many of you are there 12345 it will be tight but the 5 of you will have to manage your 6 member who is 6 feet beneath the snow somewhere.

alexander who gives the group some final instructions they need to dig a coup. own shape around the victim to pull her out so the big night ready. on your marks go. even 5 rescuers struggle to dig out the victim in the crucial 15 minutes. ok for cocaine stop for a 2nd dive stop the clock. because you've been digging for 8 and a half minutes now and you only notice how uncoordinated you are you need coordination to work more efficiently aside. what looks like a great cardio workout could mean the difference between life and death. finally the breakthrough. gets it's taken by

people 15 minutes and 10 seconds to recover someone buried alive beneath the snow. another minute when the victim may not have been so lucky. how is that feeling about the whole experience was the. mission devices of the son well i didn't expect to experience such honestly care on overwhelming emotions as the disease i'm caught in yet. i was fine at the start but once this uncoordinated chaotic sense of panic spread that's in with american tourists and i had to really pull myself together. to focus on outcomes and get through it. but i bet it is that was fair to the target audience and of writing feeling to know someone's buried down there and refutes to know what it's like definitely more intense than i imagined into people as you must have to

make out. in the words of o.t. my own theory is important but research ultimately serves just one purpose to save lives and to do that it's essential to understand the different types of avalanches in order to control them successfully. and there's one type that worries the head of to roles warning services more than any other. glide snow avalanches the number of incidents is on the rise. there cause not by one way or breaking away but the entire snow pack making them extremely dangerous even on short slopes they can gain incredible speeds and force high temperatures and late autumn prevent the earth from freezing leaving the 1st snow to fall on warm ground snow acts as an insulator

preventing the earth from freezing that creates the ideal sliding surface. as this ice base some of these avalanches happen months till the end of winter right up until early may be. distant and these are the ones that can cover roads and buildings and endangered villages or the occupied to get the hottest type of avalanche to control because they cannot be artificially triggered us is the explosions don't work. through an explosive in then they would just create a hole and nothing else would happen a subsequent avalanche because 2 hours later bowl 2 weeks 2 months whenever this ice is a glide snow avalanche can't be triggered artificially by explosives the houseless beauty meyer and his colleagues are examining the consistency of an avalanche that almost reached the road to the village could type in a worst case scenario the village would be completely cut off from the outside world. in them and to soon as you spot the 1st signs so-called fish

mouths where a break has appeared in the snow cover you know. so there's a high risk of a glide snow avalanche i mean if you need to stay off the slopes and make sure you're not beneath any breaks that makes sense. since a glide avalanche takes the entire snow pack with it digging through to the victims it buries takes much longer. often too long. to give time safety off the last 96 times it's ever been to the tragic cases but some happy endings too so if you need to learn to handle some of the things you see army think local but as we demolish schoolhouse. you always become a lot of the camaraderie can help all time alone or with the dog with your family of course but if you want will do from a limited out you get but i don't know how we deal with it well we're never alone it seems we work as a team and sometimes just talking to the others after

a rescue can help you process what's happening and what you've been through i think on. the avalanche camp is over. what have the participants learned. in schmidt's aside and just being in the snow definitely comes with the wrist to mine and that hopefully i'll think so now i mean besides we have a few in and up i want to try and enjoy the next winter holiday instead of constantly learning time that. at the institute for snow and avalanche research the scientists are making some of their 1st cautious forecasts for the years ahead.

severe weather conditions are what worries alex most. actually that's what climate scenarios say is that although we will have more. more likely bigger snow storms or more intense no storms the time between the snowstorms so that at the time where the weather is good well also lasts longer so we'll have longer dry periods between does not stop and that's exactly during those dry periods that he's weak players for so if we actually have. and widespread weeks earlier also higher up in the mountains and then this big snowstorm that result could have been even more catastrophic. betty sivia considers rising temperatures as a threat. that was

if i don't. i think the if we've seen a lot of night snow avalanches in ballet did i see them back then when these a. deadly seems ever seen a bit unusual because now hard to predict any guns going that we don't really know would. you know that you encountered. this winter too has cost more lives avalanches remain a threat. we now know that they are impacted by our changing climate. and it's these changes that pose tough new challenges for scientists in the foreseeable future.

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