AVAC4QGIS integrates avalanche simulation and optional avalanche-generated lake-wave modeling into QGIS. The plugin provides case preparation, managed solver execution, temporal visualization, profiles, gauges, and map export without requiring users to configure Clawpack or a compiler.
AVAC4QGIS 1.0.0 is available for Windows AMD64, macOS Apple Silicon, and Linux x86_64. It supports QGIS 3.40 or newer. The macOS package requires macOS 26.0 or newer; the Linux package requires glibc 2.43 or newer.
AVAC4QGIS runs as a dock inside the normal QGIS workspace, so simulation inputs, derived layers, and results remain visible alongside the Browser and Layers panels. The map below shows a hillshaded terrain with avalanche-release polygons in orange and a derived lake polygon in translucent blue. The plugin dock on the right groups the workflow into AVAC Parameters, AVAC Run, optional WAVE pages, and a shared Results page.
- Download the installable package from the
AVAC4QGIS 1.0.0 release.
The 64-bit Windows package is
avac_qgis-1.0.0-windows-amd64.zip. The macOS Apple Silicon package isavac_qgis-1.0.0-macos-arm64.zip. The Linux x86_64 package isavac_qgis-1.0.0-linux-x86_64.zip. - In QGIS, open Plugins → Manage and Install Plugins → Install from ZIP.
- Select the downloaded ZIP and open AVAC4QGIS from the Plugins menu.
Each release ZIP includes the AVAC and WAVE solvers and their managed runtime. Running the installed plugin does not require GNU Make, a Fortran compiler, Clawpack, BLAS, or LAPACK.
The GitHub source-code ZIP does not contain the managed solver runtimes and is not an installable QGIS package. Use the release asset linked above when installing AVAC4QGIS on another computer.
See the release page for the package downloads and platform requirements.
The version 1.0.0 methods manuscript documents the implemented equations, numerical methods, and validation scope.
The AVAC4QGIS User Interface Reference explains the simulation workflow and every control in the graphical interface. The same guide is available from the plugin's Help button.
The AVAC4QGIS Tutorial is a figure-rich, step-by-step example from avalanche setup through optional avalanche--lake coupling and result inspection.
An AVAC simulation needs two spatial inputs: a terrain DEM and one or more avalanche-release polygons. Choose an AVAC Working Directory, select those layers, configure the physical parameters, and prepare and run AVAC. The working directory contains copied inputs, isolated runs, results, previews, and exports; the managed runtime remains separate.
The repository's tutorial directory provides a 1 m terrain DEM
and release polygons for following the published tutorial. Its georeferenced
satellite image is an optional visual background and is not a solver input.
The optional Enable Lake-Wave Extension switch adds the WAVE parameter and run pages. A WAVE scenario reads a completed AVAC result without modifying it and transfers the avalanche contribution through the prepared internal shoreline coupling. Before running AVAC, the lake polygon can be selected from QGIS or derived directly from the terrain DEM by entering a water-surface elevation and clicking a point inside the connected basin. AVAC and WAVE maps, profiles, gauges, and time series are handled together in the final Results page.
The animation below shows a small simulated avalanche entering a water body and generating an impulse wave. It combines AVAC snow depth outside the lake with WAVE water-surface displacement, which keeps the avalanche and water contributions physically distinct in the final visualization.
The validation directory contains the reproducible scientific
checks in three groups:
AVAC— water-limit and Coulomb analytical benchmarks;WAVE— SWASHES water benchmarks, the Baines well-balanced test, the WRR sloping-bed case, and AMR/OpenMP reproducibility;ISeeSnow— the three official ISeeSnow avalanche intercomparison cases.
Every case has an independent Jupyter notebook. The notebooks install the shared Python validation package into their active kernel, execute the current source solver, calculate quantitative diagnostics, and recreate their comparison figures. Generated solver output and figures are intentionally not versioned.
Running validation from a clean checkout requires Python 3.10 or newer, Jupyter,
GNU Make, and gfortran. The SWASHES notebooks also require a C++ compiler.
The ISeeSnow notebooks download the pinned official 1.0 dataset on first use.
avac_qgis— QGIS plugin source;avac-main/src/AVAC— AVAC solver source;avac-main/src/WAVE— WAVE solver source;avac-main/clawpack-v5.14.0— pinned shared Clawpack source;validation— executable notebooks, drivers, analytical routines, and validation support package;docs— published user documentation;tools— runtime and plugin package builders.
Compiled executables, managed runtime archives, installable release ZIPs, and generated validation products are excluded from source control.
See THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md for the included solver and analytical-reference dependencies and their retained license notices.