Researchers in Switzerland and the US have gleaned new insights into how slab avalanches begin on snowy mountainsides, reconciling the predictions of two competing theories. Led by Johan Gaume at the école Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), the team used calculations, computer simulations and observations from real slab avalanches to show that the cracks responsible for the falling snow are formed by mechanisms similar to those found in strike-slip earthquakes. The result could make it easier to forecast when and where avalanches will form (Nat. Phys. doi:10.1038/s41567-022-01662-4).
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