SNAPS will contribute towards safer and more efficient transport system in the northern peripheryThe SNAPS project will focus on snow and avalanche services for transport infrastructure in selected areas within the Northern Periphery in Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland. Avalanche forecasting systems for transport authorities will be developed from scratch in some areas and existing services improved in other areas.The result will be a similar avalanche forecasting package in all target areas, delivered to transport authorities by institutes that have expertise in avalanche forecasting. This will give local transport authorities an important tool for making decisions on closures of roads/railway lines and warnings to the public. Near-real time snow cover maps will be made available online to the public in the target areas and they will be further developed to become an input to snowdrift and avalanche forecasts aimed at transport authorities.To ensure that the services will be of best possible use for end users a group of road/railway users will be created in each partner country which will be included in the project. The groups are expected to give feedback on services in the trial stage. SNAPS will result in safer and more efficient transport in the target areas and it will, therefore, increase the competitiveness as well as the sustainability of the communities.All products and services will continue to run after the lifetime of this project. They are applicable to large areas in the Northern Periphery and also to other fields, such as hydropower and avalanche forecasting for villages and ski areas.Aim & Objectives:The overall abjective of the SNAPS project is to improve accessibility in remote northerly areas by increasing the safety as well as the efficiency of transport on roads, railroads and winter roads that are affected by severe weather, snow, snow melting and snow and slush avalanches. This will benefit societies in affected areas and contribute towards stronger economies with greater job opportunities and better economic environment for manufacturing companies. Furthermore, the proposed service will be an aid in future road planning in these cold climate regions. Achievements: Technical project reports are available at the SNAPS website. A total of seven reports have been published on different parts of the project. They contain details on the work done, as well as the functionality of services and products developed within SNAPS. The reports are found here: http://www.snaps-project.eu/publications-and-presentations/annual-reports/Reports have also been written by individual partners on project components specific to their area. Furthermore, papers on SNAPS have been published in a few different conference proceedings.Reports:• Weather and avalanches: Analyses on weather leading up to avalanches on the target roads.• SM4 snow sensor: Testing the SM4 automatic snow sensors in three different countries.• Run-out indices: Calculation and utility of Icelandic run-out indices for all avalanche target roads.• Avalanche Services: Avalanche services for road authorities and road users developed within SNAPS.• Snow maps based on satellite data.• Snowdrift modelling: Development of a snowdrift model and schemes for a snowdrift forecast.• Forecasting the snowpack structure: Testing the Crocus snow model.