cloudy

5°C

Ísafjörður

cloudy

6°C

Hornbjargsviti

Rúnar Óli Karlsson

Triggering an avalanche

The Icelandic Meterology Office has an avalanche research center in
Isafjordur that I work for during the winter. One interesting project
that we´ve been working on is triggering avalanches with explosives
which is pretty regular thing espcially in the States, Canada and the
Alps. Conditions are a bit different here in Iceland, different
snowpack and climate. Last Monday we blew up 150kg of dynamite that we
put on the ground high in the mountains last fall and snow has been
accumulating on top of it ever since. We had recognised a weak layer
deep in the snowpack and were expecting some good results. And it
turned out to be the right day for the job…!

 

A short footage appeared on TV1 that´s quite impressive.

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