Researchers at the University of Central Asia (UCA), an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), have mapped snow avalanche risks across High Mountain Asia, producing data to help mountain communities, planners and emergency responders better understand exposure to avalanches. The findings are published in an open-access study in Earth’s Future.

Using 33 years of Landsat satellite data, Dr Arnaud Caiserman, Senior Research Fellow at UCA’s Mountain Societies Research Institute, Professor Roy Sidle, Jakob F. Steiner and Evgenii Shibkov produced Snow Avalanche Frequency Estimation maps for High Mountain Asia, known as SAFE-HMA. The dataset maps avalanche activity from 1990 to 2022 at 30-metre resolution and identifies exposure risks for villages, roads, buildings and cultivated lands.

The study found that nearly 20 percent of buildings in High Mountain Asia are in areas at risk from avalanches, while up to 22 percent of the road network may be blocked annually by avalanche deposits, temporarily disconnecting villages from food, energy, medical supplies and communication infrastructure. The findings also show that across 85 percent of High Mountain Asia, no long-term trend in avalanche deposits was detected. However, in 15 percent of larger catchments, deposits increased, with some western areas experiencing warmer and wetter conditions that may contribute to unstable snowpacks.

Watch the animation above or read the full study and access the open dataset.