The relevance of rock shape over mass-implications for rockfall hazard assessments.

The mitigation of rapid mass movements involves a subtle interplay between field surveys, numerical modelling, and experience. Hazard engineers rely on a combination of best practices and, if available, historical facts as a vital prerequisite in establishing reproducible and accurate hazard zoning. Full-scale field tests have been performed to reinforce the physical understanding of debris flows and snow avalanches.

Seismic signature of the deadly snow avalanche of January 18, 2017, at Rigopiano (Italy).

Most snow avalanches occur unobserved, which becomes particularly dramatic when human lives are involved. Seismological observations can be helpful to unravel time and dynamics of unseen events, like the deadly avalanche of January 18, 2017, that hit a Resort-hotel at Rigopiano in the Abruzzi (Italy). Particle motion analysis and spectrograms from data recorded by a close seismic broadband station, calculation of synthetic seismograms, as well as simulation of the flow, allowed us to construct the dynamics of the snow avalanche that buried alive 40 people, killing 29.