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Using local infrasound arrays to detect plunging snow avalanches along the Milford Road, New Zealand (Aotearoa)

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Abstract

Snow avalanches pose a hazard in alpine environments. There is a need to improve monitoring capabilities in order to reliably detect and locate avalanche activity, which will help to validate avalanche hazard assessments. Recent work has demonstrated the utility of infrasound as it can provide continuous monitoring and broad geographic coverage. Here, we present the first use of infrasound to monitor snow avalanche activity in a maritime climate along the Milford Road in Fiordland, New Zealand (Aotearoa). Size 4 (or larger) plunging avalanches frequently occur along the Milford Road, which travels through a glacial-carved valley with steep cliffs (slope angles can exceed 50\(^\circ\)) that are over 1000 m tall. We deployed two infrasound arrays on the eastern side of the Homer Tunnel and recorded triggered and natural avalanches during our month-long field campaign. We use array processing to identify avalanche signals, calculate back-azimuths, and triangulate source locations. Source locations are well constrained for avalanches that are in-network but are worse for avalanches that occur out-of-network, likely due to topographic scattering of acoustic waves from the steep valley walls. The infrasound amplitudes are substantially larger than previously recorded at other locations with a maximum peak-to-peak amplitude of 37 Pa detected for a large triggered avalanche, which reflects the unique dynamics of the avalanches along the Milford Road. This study demonstrates the utility of infrasound for snow avalanche monitoring in maritime climates and showcases an efficient processing workflow that could be easily operationalized.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to two anonymous reviewers who provided useful and constructive reviews. Collection of the infrasound data was supported by the Milford Road Alliance, which is a partnership between the New Zealand Transport Agency (Waka Kotahi) and Downer New Zealand. Meteorological data and photos are provided by the Milford Road Alliance. L. M. Watson was supported by NSF EAR 1949219 and J. B. Johnson was supported by TARP Grant 3411019021. Infrasound data is available at the Boise State University Infrasound Data Repository (doi:10.18122/infrasound_data.7.boisestate).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA

    Leighton M. Watson

  2. Milford Road Alliance, Te Anau, New Zealand

    Brad Carpenter & Kevin Thompson

  3. Department of Geoscience, Boise State University, Boise, ID, USA

    Jeffrey B. Johnson

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  1. Leighton M. Watson
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Correspondence to Leighton M. Watson.

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Watson, L.M., Carpenter, B., Thompson, K. et al. Using local infrasound arrays to detect plunging snow avalanches along the Milford Road, New Zealand (Aotearoa). Nat Hazards 111, 949–972 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-021-05086-w

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