Jökull


Jökull - 01.12.2006, Page 3

Jökull - 01.12.2006, Page 3
Reviewed research article Avalanches in coastal towns in Iceland Svanbjörg Helga Haraldsdóttir1,2,3, Esther Hlíðar Jensen2, Leah Tracy2, and Haraldur Ólafsson2,3,4 1Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík (Reykjavík College), 101 Reykjavík, 2Veðurstofa Íslands (Icelandic Meteorological Office), 3Faculty of Science, University of Iceland, 4Currently at Bergen School of Meteorology, Geophysical Institute, University of Bergen, Norway. email: svanahh@gmail.com Abstract — An overview of registered avalanches in the vicinity of 13 towns known to be threatened by avalanches is presented graphically, together with information on weather prior to avalanches at specific locations. In N-Vestfirðir (NW-Iceland), Central N-Iceland and in Austfirðir (E-Iceland), large avalanches are generally preceded by heavy precipitation and strong sustained winds from northerly directions. In such cases, the snow accumulates at the top of the lee slopes. In some cases snow accumulates in gullies when the wind blows parallel to the mountain side and at some locations, snow accumulation is very sensitive to wind direction. INTRODUCTION In January and October 1995, catastrophic avalanches killed a total of 34 people in Súðavík and Flat- eyri (Figure 1) in N-Vestfirðir, NW-Iceland, (Egils- son, 1995a,b, 1996; Ólafsdóttir, 1996; Haraldsdóttir, 1998a,b). Property loss was enormous and so was the impact on the local society. Since late December 1995, Veðurstofa Íslands (Icelandic Meteorological Office) has been responsible for deciding evacuation of residents in Icelandic towns in case of avalanche hazards (Figure 2), hazard mapping and guiding the work on permanent protection structures against avalanches (Magnússon, 1998). On the basis of records of avalanches and studies of weather related to avalanches, evacuation plans have been made for indi- vidual towns. After the catastrophic 1995 avalanches, the need for permanent protection measures was re- viewed by Jóhannesson et al. (1996). This led to the construction of deflecting and catching avalanche dams and supporting structures in avalanche starting zones. Avalanche dams have already been constructed in five towns, Flateyri, Siglufjörður, Neskaupstaður, Ísafjörður and Seyðisfjörður. Figure 1. Flateyri after the catastrophic avalanche on 26 October 1995, which caused 20 fatalities. Over 30 houses were hit by the avalanche – Yfirlitsmynd af Flateyri eftir snjóflóðið mikla 26. október 1995, þar sem 20 manns fórust. Snjóflóðið lenti á rúmlega 30 húsum. JÖKULL No. 56 1
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