  Avalanche dynamics is found in many phenomena spanning from earthquakes to
the evolution of species. It can be also found in vortex matter when a type II
superconductor is externally driven, for example, by increasing the magnetic
field. Vortex avalanches associated with thermal instabilities can be an
undesirable effect for applications, but "dynamically driven" avalanches
emerging from the competition between intervortex interactions and quenched
disorder constitute an interesting scenario to test theoretical ideas related
with non-equilibrium dynamics. However, differently from the equilibrium phases
of vortex matter in type II superconductors, the study of the corresponding
dynamical phases - in which avalanches can play a role - is still in its
infancy. In this paper we critically review relevant experiments performed in
the last decade or so, emphasizing the ability of different experimental
techniques to establish the nature and statistical properties of the observed
avalanche behavior.
