Author(s)

Barbara Marana

Department of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Bergamo, Dalmine (Bergamo), Italy.

This paper describes the results of a study developed, with a GIS approach, at the University of Bergamo, about snow avalanche zoning and risk assessment in the Province of Bergamo. The adoption of a simplified estimation model, presented here, nonetheless allowed achieving results in good accordance with those provided by previous, more rigorous studies at the Province of Bergamo. A following analysis has also been performed to estimate ski lifts, urban areas, power lines, highways, railroads and roads at possible risk. This is a work in progress, since further development has already been taken into account to enrich the risk model with more parameters describing land morphology and meteorology. These results will then be used to simulate accidents and to estimate the shortest routes for rescuers. Finally, the development of a geo-app for mobile devices could become a very useful and fast tool for avalanche risk areas information.

Avalanche Zoning, Avalanche Risk Analysis in the Province of Bergamo, GIS Analysis, Higher Risk Zones Identification

Marana, B. (2017) An ArcGIS Geo-Morphological Approach for Snow Avalanche Zoning and Risk Estimation in the Province of Bergamo. Journal of Geographic Information System, 9, 83-97. doi: 10.4236/jgis.2017.92006.