Course synopsis:
This course aims at offering an introduction to the physics and modelling of continental hydrology, with a focus on the regional scale. It is organized in two parts : 2/3 of the time will be devoted to introductory lectures, and 1/3 to students' presentations on selected research papers. The lectures will cover :
1. Introduction: hydrology at the crux of climate, water cycles, and water resources; vertical land surface flux vs. horizontal hydrological fluxes; scale issues; importance of numerical modelling.
2. Land surface fluxes: what do we call the land surface? main processes, with an emphasis on evaporation and soil-water flow; related scales, measuring methods, modelling approaches.
3. River basin hydrology: river basin structure and limits; main processes, with an emphasis on runoff, base flow and river flow ; measuring methods, modelling approaches.
4. Water resources - an applied science question integrating hydrology, climate and the land surface: extreme events (droughts and floods; quantification; implications for human activities), anthropogenic pressures (e.g. water withdrawals for drinking water or irrigation), climate change impact assessment (climate downscaling, uncertainties)...
Note: this course will not insist on the role of vegetation on land surface hydrology, which will be more thoroughly addressed in the course “Continental Biosphere and Atmosphere: Two-ways Interactions”.
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Agnès Ducharne is specialized in hydrological modelling, with two main interests: improving the description of underground hydrological processes in land surface models, and assessing the hydrological impacts of environmental changes. A former student of the Ecole Normale Supérieure, she's got a Master's degree in Ecology, and a PhD in Climatology (prepared at the Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique, Paris). After a 2-year post-doc at the NASA/GSFC, she has been a researcher at the CNRS since 2000, in the laboratory Sisyphe of the University Pierre and Marie Curie (Paris).
Email address: Agnes.Ducharne@upmc.fr
Web page (in French): www.sisyphe.jussieu.fr

Dernière mise à jour : mercredi 20 avril 2011