You can reach Florian at florian_herla@sfu.ca.

During his teenage years Florian developed a strong fascination for climbing and mountaineering and particularly enjoyed the variety that comes with different seasons. A decade later his studies of the atmospheric sciences stimulated his aspiration to anticipate weather and snowpack conditions from remote and to understand physical phenomena while in the mountains. While these interests have sparked his motivation to study snow and avalanches from a physical perspective, his second profession as an IFMGA mountain guide equally motivates him to learn more about the risk perspective, particularly in the context of decision making and communication. He is particularly motivated to bridge the space between tangible application and academic research.

The objective of Florian’s research is to make snowpack simulations more accessible and relevant for operational avalanche forecasting. He is building on the established infrastructure of numerical weather and snowpack modeling and develop computer algorithms that help researchers and forecasters analyze large data sets of simulated or manually observed snow profiles in meaningful ways. Other tasks of his research involve evaluating and correcting the modeled snow stratigraphy based on operational snowpack observations and hazard assessments. The ultimate goal of his research is to contribute to bringing operational avalanche forecasting into the digital century and in the long run contribute to improved forecastability in data sparse regions, but also to improved forecast quality and consistency in general.

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