Impacts of climate change on snow avalanche activity along a transportation corridor in the Tianshan mountains

This study collected the meteorological and snowpack observation data for the period of 1968–2021, and snow avalanche activity data for the snow seasons from 2011 to 2021 along a transportation corridor in the central Tianshan Mountains in order to analyze temporal changes in snow avalanches and to examine the impacts of climate change on snow avalanches under continental snow climate conditions. Snow avalanches can repeatedly occur along the same track under different snowpack and meteorological conditions during the snow season in areas of snow avalanche activity. 

The results indicate that the frequency of the snow avalanche activity is characterized by a Gaussian bimodal distribution, resulting from interactions between the snowfall, air temperature, and snowpack evolution. In addition, the active period of wet snow avalanches triggered by temperature surges and high solar radiation has gradually moved forward from the second half to the first half of March with climate warming. The frequency and size of snowfall-triggered snow avalanches showed only a slight and insignificant increase