M a n a g e m e n t

a n d

A n a l y s i s

o f

S n o w,

A v a l a n c h e

a n d

C l i m a t e

D a t a

GelinivforWindows-AnIntegratedSoftwareforSnowDataAnalysis J.L.DumasandC.Gendre Météo-France - Centre d'Etudes de la Neige 1441 rue de la piscine, F-38406 Saint Martin d'Hères Cedex, France phone: 33 04 76 63 79 06, fax: 33 04 76 51 53 46, e-mail: Jean-Louis.Dumas@meteo.fr

Key words :software - database - computer- application

ABSTRACT

Formore than twelve years, the CEN (Snow Study Center)
hasbeen developingoperationalsoftware forsnowdata
analysis.Various applications are available, dependingon
the geographicalscale : the nationaldatabase locatedat the
CEN,regional software foravalancheforecasters and local
applications for snow weather patrollers in ski resorts.
GELINIV is the day-to-day work station of the local ava-
lancheforecaster.Allnivo-meteorologicaldata(snow
weather observations and snowpits) can be processed and
displayed on various screens to help in snow cover analy-
sis.It manages up to nine measurement points and sev-
eral years of data are available on-line.In 1993,the first
version underthe DOS systemwas available.
The version V2 is a new one developed by the comput-
ing division of the CEN to work on IBM Compatible under
the Windows interface.It isfree software forFrench ski
resorts of the snow weather network. In March 1996, more
than fifty programs were installedfor dataprocessing about
eightymeasurementpointsintheFrenchAlpsand
Pyrénées.A new version,V2.2,has been announced for
November;one of the innovations will be the multi-lan-
guage supportforaninternationalbroadcast.Inthefu-
ture, the data transmission by modem between ski resorts
and regional centers of Météo-France will be examined.

INTRODUCTION

In France, the avalanche hazard forecasting is founded on
collaborationbetweentheskiresorts(belongingtothe
snow and weather station network) and Météo-France (re-
gionalforecasting).Aprotocolwassignedin1992;the
two obligations of Météo-France were to supply free soft-
ware forlocal snow data analysis and all data of the sta-
tion extracted from the National Snow Database (BDNIV).
Thishasbeena logicalcontinuationofanimportant
effort made by the CEN for more than ten years to produce
software forsnowdata analysis;some achievements are
listed below:

*In1983/1984,AIPRAwasthefirstnationalsoftware
allowingdirectandreal-timeaccesstoallthedata
[Castetset al.84].

*In1985/1986,theavalanchehazardforecastingwas
transferred to ten regional stations,and new software,
ADIPRA,became the day-to-day workstation of ava-
lanche forecasters [Dumas 91].

*In 1986/1987,a first local version,based on ADIPRA,
PRELA was given to some ski resorts. It was developed
by CENand adapted to each station by a private com-
pany.

*In 1989, the National Snow Database (BDNIV) was cre-
ated at CEN.It isthe heart of all applications such as
modelisation,climatology and so on.

THE V2 FOR WINDOWS, A GREATER EVOLUTION

The firstversionof GELINIV was distributed during the
winter 1992/1993 [Bolognesi-Dumas 94]. Having been di-
rectly derived fromADIPRA,itwas running under DOS
and was available to store data on weather and snowpack
information.Oneoftheuseswastographthedatafor
easiervisualization.Thissoftwarewasavailabletorun
on the most basic computer,a PC 8086,which allowed a
wide distribution. However the interface was not very at-
tractive for the user. Now, in 1996, most of them are using
the graphical interface Windows and onlyneed to click
on the mouse to have results.
Therefore we decided, during the summer of 1994,to
develop,forthe winterof 1995/1996,a new modern ver-
sionof this program,with powerful functions and user-
friendly (we hope !):the version V2.0.

MAINSPRINGS

Manysoftwarearespecializedeitherinprocessof
snowpits, or snowpack database or modelisation [Tremper
92].The mostimportant feature of GELINIV istheinte-
gration of these three functions in the same software with
a common interface.

We had five main objectives forthe development:

First,some internal objectives:

*New graphicintuitive user interface with the Windows
look.

*Improvements ofthe functionsin all the programs of
the DOS version.

*Simplificationoftheinstallation,updatingand con-
figuration process.

*Introductionofadidactic aspectforrecentlytrained
ski patrollers.

*The fifth and very significant objective:

*Allow processing of new measurements to be defined
by users.
ThislastobjectiveshowstheCEN'swishtomakean
"open"softwareand soanswerprivatedevelopers'and
users'aspirations.

WHAT DOES GELINIV DO?

The GELINIV's main screen (fig. 1) shows a toolbar which
allows access to all the functions,grouped by data type.
Most useful functions can be reached by several buttons
with self explicit icons.By a special button,the user can
change the yearof data and so work as easily in the past
as in the present.

Dataentry

The conceptionof these modules is the most difficult. Each
userhas different methods and preferences and opinions
may often be conflicting. The use of the application is also

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