Seminar by Mr Ashwagosha Ganju, Director of Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment in India
Title: New technologies for mitigation of avalanche hazards in the Indian Himalaya
Wednesday, 11 December 2013, 13:00
AGB Seminar Room (3rd floor),
Alexander Graham Bell Building, The King's Buildings
Pizza from 12:45
Abstract:
Himalaya, the youngest and structurally weak mountain chain in the world is prone to various types of
mountain hazards, like ice fall, snow storms, crevasses and glacial-melt runoff. Foremost among these are
snow avalanches. Traditionally, avoidance of any activity during bad weather spells was the only means of
safeguarding people from the onslaught of avalanches. Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment has
developed and enabled various technologies to predict as well as permanently control avalanches in snow
bound regions of Indian Himalaya.
For timely and accurate collection of snow and meteorological data from remote high altitude and
inhospitable regions of Himalaya, various sensors and telemetry technologies have been used. A network of 70
Automatic Weather Stations, 40 manual snow pack observation stations, 03 Principal Research Stations, & 03
Upper Air Stations (UAS) have been established in the altitude range of 2500 - 6000 m of Western Himalaya
region. Instrumented Remotely Operated Vehicles, Parallel Probe Saturation Profiler (PPSP) and Multi
Parameter Probe are used to measure snow pack parameters. UAV (Netra) is used to record avalanche
occurrence data and to ascertain the snow loading on avalanche slopes. Remote Sensing technology using
different satellite data is utilized for snow cover mapping and snow characteristics. Multi-spectral sensors are
used for operational snow cover monitoring.
SASE has developed Nearest Neighbor Model (NN model) and Expert System for prediction of avalanches on a
regional scale. The NN model, based on a search technique, provides an estimate of the prior probability of
avalanche release in a given area. The 10 nearest days corresponding to the forecast day are further analyzed
in the context of forecast day situation. The Expert system has been also developed using heuristic and
situation based rules for each forecast area. It assesses the forecast day situation based on past information on
snow, weather and avalanche observations and provides the degree of avalanche danger in operational mode.
Various technologies, like acoustic emission monitoring from stressed snow cover, radar profiles of snowpack
are being explored to draw a precise assessment of snowpack instability on mountain slopes. A wireless sensor
network model is on the anvil for prediction of avalanches from select slopes by using a combination of
process oriented and statistical approach. SASE has also developed and implemented various types of
avalanche control structures to permanently control some of the strategic avalanche sites on important road
axis.
About the speaker: Mr Ashwagosha Ganju has more than 25 years of wide research experience in the field of
Cold Region Sciences and Engineering with specialization in Avalanche Forecasting, Snow Cover Modeling,
Snow Hydrology and Artificial Triggering of avalanches. In 2009, he was appointed as Director, Snow &
Avalanche Study Establishment (SASE). Mr Ganju has traversed the entire length and breadth of Western
Himalayan region to understand the problems in avalanche prone areas. He carried out the reconnaissance of
the entire Siachen group of glaciers in extreme conditions for demarcation of avalanche prone areas,
conducted hydrological and sediment transport studies and prepared geomorphologic map of the glacier. He
has developed statistical and AI based models for prediction of avalanches in different snow climatic zones of
Himalaya. He was deputed to Swiss federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SFISAR), Switzerland;
CRREL and Mountana State University in USA for research experience in the field of avalanche forecasting. He
has been instrumental in initiating the research work on spatial and temporal variability of snow cover in
Western Himalayas and Micro Tremor Activity in Karakoram ranges. He successfully implemented Mountain
Meteorology Program for prediction of accurate meso-scale mountain weather forecast in Western Himalayan
region. He is associated with Glaciological society of India, Indian Science Congress and Administrative staff
College, Hyderabad.