Snow Avalanches and Tribology

摘要

When an avalanche is scientifically defined, we can say that it is "a natural phenomenon wherein snow that has once accumulated on a slope moves by the action of gravity with a speed that can be distinguished with the naked eye." At a slope with an inclination that is too steep, snow falls down the slope soon after accumulating and does not stop there temporarily. On the contrary, when the inclination is too gradual, snow that has accumulated on the slope cannot move at a speed that can be distinguished by the naked eye by the action of gravity. In that sense we can say that the science of the occurrence of an avalanche is the tribology itself. The mutual interaction of the bottom surface and an avalanche itself, in either the moving or the stopping of the avalanche, not limited to the occurrence of an avalanche, greatly controls the phenomenon macroscopically and microscopically. Here, a static slide at the bottom surface of the accumulation of snow on a slope called glide, and the part that relates to tribology related to the occurrence of an avalanche, the development and granulation of an avalanche, and the movement of an avalanche that occurs as a result thereof are described.