Snow, Ice and Avalanche applications

Programme 2007 - 2013 Northern Periphery

Date of latest update: 2024-01-06

Description

Description (EN):

SNAPS will contribute towards safer and more efficient transport system in the northern periphery The SNAPS project will focus on snow and avalanche services for transport infrastructure in selected areas within the Northern Periphery in Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland. Avalanche forecasting systems for transport authorities will be developed from scratch in some areas and existing services improved in other areas. The result will be a similar avalanche forecasting package in all target areas, delivered to transport authorities by institutes that have expertise in avalanche forecasting. This will give local transport authorities an important tool for making decisions on closures of roads/railway lines and warnings to the public. Near-real time snow cover maps will be made available online to the public in the target areas and they will be further developed to become an input to snowdrift and avalanche forecasts aimed at transport authorities. To ensure that the services will be of best possible use for end users a group of road/railway users will be created in each partner country which will be included in the project. The groups are expected to give feedback on services in the trial stage. SNAPS will result in safer and more efficient transport in the target areas and it will, therefore, increase the competitiveness as well as the sustainability of the communities. All products and services will continue to run after the lifetime of this project. They are applicable to large areas in the Northern Periphery and also to other fields, such as hydropower and avalanche forecasting for villages and ski areas. Aim & Objectives: The overall abjective of the SNAPS project is to improve accessibility in remote northerly areas by increasing the safety as well as the efficiency of transport on roads, railroads and winter roads that are affected by severe weather, snow, snow melting and snow and slush avalanches. This will benefit societies in affected areas and contribute towards stronger economies with greater job opportunities and better economic environment for manufacturing companies. Furthermore, the proposed service will be an aid in future road planning in these cold climate regions.

Achievements (EN):

Technical project reports are available at the SNAPS website. A total of seven reports have been published on different parts of the project. They contain details on the work done, as well as the functionality of services and products developed within SNAPS. The reports are found here: http://www.snaps-project.eu/publications-and-presentations/annual-reports/ Reports have also been written by individual partners on project components specific to their area. Furthermore, papers on SNAPS have been published in a few different conference proceedings. Reports: • Weather and avalanches: Analyses on weather leading up to avalanches on the target roads. • SM4 snow sensor: Testing the SM4 automatic snow sensors in three different countries. • Run-out indices: Calculation and utility of Icelandic run-out indices for all avalanche target roads. • Avalanche Services: Avalanche services for road authorities and road users developed within SNAPS. • Snow maps based on satellite data. • Snowdrift modelling: Development of a snowdrift model and schemes for a snowdrift forecast. • Forecasting the snowpack structure: Testing the Crocus snow model.

Expected Results (EN):

The avalanche forecasting services will result in better risk assessment and improve accessibility of information for decisions on road closures or other actions of risk prevention. More informative decisions will increase the safety of travellers, but it should also reduce the periods of unnecessary closures of the roads. In most cases public road users do not get a warning ahead or information on the degree of avalanche risk, the road is simply either open or closed. In SNAPS the possibility of giving some further information on avalanche risk to the public will be assessed. Snow maps tailored for road management and planning will also reduce risk and increase efficiency of the transport infrastructure in the Northern Periphery. Near-real time snow cover maps (updated shortly after satellite data has been received) open to the public on official web pages will be of importance to people who depend on the snow cover for travelling.

Thematic information

Managing natural and man-made threats, risk management ICT and digital society Infrastructure

Partners (5)

Lead Partner: Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO)

Address: 150 Reykjavik, Iceland

Legal status: n/a

Norut Tromso AS

Name: Norut Tromso AS

Address: 9038 Tromsø, Norway

Legal status: n/a

Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI)

Name: Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI)

Address: 0806 Oslo, Norway

Legal status: n/a

Finnish Meteorological Institute / Arctic Research Centre

Name: Finnish Meteorological Institute / Arctic Research Centre

Address: 99600 Sodankylä, Finland

Legal status: n/a

Luleå Tekniska Universitetet

Name: Luleå Tekniska Universitetet

Address: SE-971 85 Lulea, Sweden

Legal status: n/a

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Partners and Projects info

Norut Tromso AS

Snow, Ice and Avalanche applications

Partners and Projects info

Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO)

Snow, Ice and Avalanche applications

Partners and Projects info

Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI)

Snow, Ice and Avalanche applications

Partners and Projects info

Finnish Meteorological Institute / Arctic Research Centre

Snow, Ice and Avalanche applications

Partners and Projects info

Lulea University of Technology

Snow, Ice and Avalanche applications

Lead partner

Project partner

Summary

Project name (EN): Snow, Ice and Avalanche applications

Project acronym: SNAPS

Project start date: 2011-03-01

Project end date: 2014-03-01

Project status: closed

Total budget/expenditure: EUR 1 124 192.00

Total EU funding (amount): EUR 597 910.00

Co-financing sources:

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

Financing programme

2007 - 2013 Northern Periphery

Last month that data in keep.eu was retrieved from the Programme's website or received from the Programme

2015-12-01

No. of projects in keep.eu / Total no. of projects (% of projects in keep.eu)

47 / 47 (100%)

No. of project partnerships in keep.eu / Total no. of project partnerships (% of project partnerships in keep.eu)

331 / 331 (100%)

Notes on the data

Information provided by the programme and collected from programme's website

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Snow, Ice and Avalanche applications

Description

Thematic information

Partners (5)

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Summary

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

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