Review of Acoustic Emission Analysis for Snow and Avalanches

Acoustic Emission is generation of feeble elastic waves produced by a sudden stress in a material. A structure when subjected to an external stimulus (change in pressure or temperature), localized sources trigger release of energy, waves propagate to record by sensors. The failure events which occurs inside snow results in emission of weak acoustic signatures and is responsible for failure of weak snow layers on mountain slopes leading to snow slab avalanches release. Its characterization is useful to understand the complex damage behavior of snow. This paper presents review of AE study for snow and avalanches. The distribution of various AE characteristics of snow has been analyzed by numerous authors to relate them avalanche occurrence. The outcome of this study is useful to identify relevant AE parameters associated with evolving damage behavior of snowpack.