WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF
The WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF (until 2008 Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research ) in Davos in the canton of Graubünden is an interdisciplinary research and service center and belongs to the Swiss Federal Research Institute for Forests, Snow and Landscape WSL and thus to the ETH Area . It is located in the Davos Dorf district on Flüelastrasse and employs 130 people. The former institute building on the Weissfluhjoch is still available for research.
history
The Federal Snow and Avalanche Research Commission was founded in Bern in 1931. The first snow experiments took place in Davos Platz as early as 1935/36. 1936 was at 2693 m above sea level. M. on the Weissfluhjoch above Davos inaugurated the first refrigeration laboratory. In 1942, the Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research, Davos-Weissfluhjoch was founded. The topics "Development of the snow cover", "Snow mechanics and avalanche formation" and "Crystalline structure and transformation of snow" were already central areas of research. In 1945 the SLF took over responsibility for the avalanche warning, which at that time was still in the hands of the Swiss Army .
The avalanche winter of 1950/51 brought a decisive turning point. As a result, the cooperation with the Swiss Meteorological Institute SMA , today's Federal Office for Meteorology and Climatology, and with the Federal Institute for Forest Experiments EAFV , today's Federal Research Institute for Forests, Snow and Landscape WSL in Birmensdorf, was expanded. In 1989 the SLF became part of the WSL and has therefore belonged to the ETH domain ever since . In 1996 the institute building on Flüelastrasse in Davos Dorf became the headquarters of the SLF. In 2008 the SLF was finally renamed the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF .
research
The SLF focuses on the topics of snow , the earth's atmosphere , natural hazards , permafrost and alpine ecosystems . It also offers a range of services such as advice, expertise on avalanche accidents and avalanche protection as well as the development of warning systems for natural alpine hazards. The best-known service is the avalanche bulletins for the Swiss Alps, which are published twice a day in winter.
At the SLF, research is carried out in four research units, some of which are cross-location. The avalanche and prevention research unit is located in Davos with the groups avalanche warning, warning and information systems, avalanche dynamics and risk management, avalanche formation and protective measures. The research unit Snow and Permafrost is also located in Davos with the groups Snow Physics, Permafrost and Snow Climatology, Snow Cover and Micrometeorology, and Industrial Projects and Snow Sports.
The research unit Mountain Hydrology and Mass Movements is located at the Davos and Birmensdorf locations with the groups Snow hydrology, Hydrological forecasts, torrents and mass movements.
At the Davos, Birmensdorf, Bellinzona and Lausanne sites, there is only the research unit Ecology of Biological Communities with the groups animal-plant interactions, mountain ecosystems, wild pastures and moors and insubric ecosystems.
Locations
- Davos Dorf: headquarters of the SLF
- Weissfluhjoch : Former institute building and test field
- Wannengrat: West of Davos, since 2006 a test field for research into wind and snow transport and for answering various questions in alpine environmental and natural hazard research
- Stillberg: East of the Jakobshorn , reforestation test area to investigate the interactions between snow, avalanches and trees at the alpine tree line
- Dorfberg: East of the Höhenweg station in the Parsenn ski area . Here, among other things, wet snow examinations are carried out with a radar
- Branch office Sion:
- The SLF has had a branch in Sion since 1995 so that the concerns of the canton of Valais can be better processed.
- Vallée de la Sionne : North of Sion, since 1997/1998 a test site for avalanche dynamics
- The SLF operates around 180 automatic snow and wind stations in the high mountains, the Intercantonal Measurement and Information System (IMIS) .
