Snow Stability Index

Estimating stability and selection index

Estimating fractional snow cover from MODIS using the normalized difference snow index

Snow-cover information is important for a wide variety of scientific studies, water supply and management applications. The NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) provides improved capabilities to observe snow cover from space and has been successfully using a normalized difference snow index (NDSI), along with threshold tests, to provide global,...

Aerodynamic Stability and the Growth of Triangular Snow Crystals

We describe laboratory-grown snow crystals that exhibit a triangular, plate-like morphology, and we show that the occurrence of these crystals is much more frequent than one would expect from random growth perturbations of the more-typical hexagonal forms. We then describe an aerodynamic model that explains the formation of these crystals. A single growth perturbation on one facet of a hexagona...

Stability Index of Interaction forms

An interaction form is an abstract model of interaction based on a description of power distribution among agents over alternatives. A solution known as the settlement set is defined at any preference profile. Necessary and sufficient conditions for stability, that is the existence of settlements, are established. A Stability Index that plays a role similar to that of the Nakamura Number is def...

Changes in spatial patterns of snow stability through time

The spatial variability of snow stability presents a challenge to avalanche workers and scientists attempting to assess avalanche danger. Recent research has demonstrated, and attempted to explain, snowpack and snow stability variations over individual slopes. However, these studies have provided single snapshots of an exceedingly dynamic system instead of investigating stability variations ove...