Mountain measurements and observations
in the French sites
M. Dumont, M. Lafaysse, S. Morin, V. Vionnet (CNRM-GAME)
F. Naaïm (IRSTEA)
O. Laarman, D. Six, C. Vincent (LGGE)
T. Condom, C. Coulaud, M. Esteves,
T. Lebel, C. Obled, J.E. Sicart, I. Zin (LTHE)
International Network for Alpine Research Catchment Hydrology
Inaugural Workshop
Barrier Lake Field Station, Kananaskis Country, Alberta, Canada
22-24 October 2015
General
French context
3 main mountain ranges :
Pyrenees, Massif Central, Alps
138500 km² = 21% of the total area
Strategic areas for water resources
management (water intersectoral
competition issues)
 4 main actors for measurement and observation:
Météo France, DREALs, EDF and CNR
 A series of research sites
(with national and/or international thematic labels
for some of them)
 A general lack of data at high elevations
General
French context
3 main mountain ranges :
Pyrenees, Massif Central, Alps
138500 km² = 21% of the total area
Strategic areas for water resources
management (water intersectoral
competition issues)
 4 main actors for measurement and observation:
Météo France, DREALs, EDF and CNR
 A series of research sites
(with national and/or international thematic labels
for some of them)
 A general lack of data at high elevations
Our
contribution
French Northern Alps
Local scale:
1 - Col de Porte, 1325m a.s.l.
Chartreuse mountain range
2 - Col du Lac Blanc, 2720m a.s.l.
Grandes Rousses mountain range
1
2
0
80 km
Our
contribution
3
French Northern Alps
Local scale:
1 - Col de Porte, 1325m a.s.l.
Chartreuse mountain range
2 - Col du Lac Blanc, 2720m a.s.l.
Grandes Rousses mountain range
1
2
0
Catchment scale:
3 - Arve headwater, Mont Blanc area, 205 km² (1020-4170m a.s.l.)
80 km
Col de Porte
Geonor
precip. gauge
PG2000
(heated)
precip. gauge
10-m
met. mast
lysimeters
snow depth sensors
+ settling disks
cosmic
ray
counter
radiation
sensors
temperature
relative humidity
6
snow pit
area
ASWS Nivose
Col de Porte
7
Observations at Col de Porte
 Meteorological variables:
–
–
–
–
Air temperature, relative humidity,
Wind speed,
Incoming shortwave and IR radiation,
Precipitation (several sensors)
 Snow
–
–
–
–
depth (US / laser / manual),
SWE (NRC – EDF-DTG / manual),
snowmelt (lysimeters 1 and 5 m2),
albedo (hourly and daily)
 Internal snow properties:
– Weekly snowpits
– Settling disks
 Other:
– Ground temperature and humidity (-5, -10, -20, -30 cm)
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Overview 1993-2011 continuous data
(freely available by ftp  snow models)
9
Conclusions and outlook – Col de Porte
 Now 22 years of quality-controlled driving and evaluation data at Col de
Porte
1993 – 2011 already available at ftp://ftp-cnrm.meteo.fr/pub-cencdp/
Described in Morin et al. ESSD 2012
 Good test bed for snow precipitation measurements in a mountain
environment (icing, rain-on-snow etc.) + emerging snow observation
methods etc.
 Use for land surface model development and evaluation
 Labels : International label GCW Cryonet since 2015, French national
label SOERE CyrObsClim under scrutiny
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3
French Northern Alps
Local scale:
1 - Col de Porte, 1325m a.s.l.
Chartreuse mountain range
2 - Col du Lac Blanc, 2720m a.s.l.
Grandes Rousses mountain range
1
2
0
Catchment scale:
3 - Arve headwater, Mont Blanc area, 205 km² (1020-4170m a.s.l.)
100 km
Col du Lac Blanc
• A site dedicated to blowing snow studies :
• climatology (20 yrs of data)
• physical processes
• model development and evaluation
• A « natural wind tunnel » :
• prevailing wind direction (NE-S)
• Occurrence of blowing snow : 10 % of the time in winter
Specific instrumentation process-study oriented
 Saltation and suspension layer; blowing snow sublimation; aerodynamic roughness
Sonic anemometers
SHM 30 laser
snow depth
sensor
Snow
Particle
Counters
SR 50
snow depth
sensor
Wind mast
Automatic
Blowing Snow
Instrumentation for winter 2014/15
stations
+ 3 automatic weather stations (Wind, Tair, RHU)
Bellot et al. (2013), Naaim Bouvet et al. (2010, 2014), Vionnet et al. (2013)
Spatio-temporal variability of snow depth
Terrestrial Laser scan :
Optech Ilris LR
4 seasons of data
Richard (2015)
Schön et al (2015)
Model evaluation
Fully coupled snowpack/atmosphere model Meso-NH/Crocus
Blowing snow fluxes and wind speed
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Erosion and accumulation
simulated around Col du Lac Blanc
Vionnet et al. (2014)
Conclusions and outlook
Col du Lac Blanc

Data availability: 20 years of meteorological data including 7 years of
blowing snow fluxes (since 2008) - available upon request
Contacts: vincent.vionnet@meteo.fr, florence.naaim@irstea.fr

Good test bed for blowing snow sensors and other sensors to be
deployed in harsh environments (ex : Antarctica).

Experimental site open to international collaboration : BOKU (Austria),
University of Nagoya (Japan)

Strong interest for constituting a network
observatories, including sensor harmonization

Labels : French national label
SOERE CyrObsClim under scrutiny
of
blowing
snow
3
French Northern Alps
Local scale:
1 - Col de Porte, 1325m a.s.l.
Chartreuse mountain range
2 - Col du Lac Blanc, 2720m a.s.l.
Grandes Rousses mountain range
1
2
0
Catchment scale:
3 - Arve headwater, Mont Blanc area, 205 km² (1020-4170m a.s.l.)
100 km
Arve headwater (205 km²)
 Aiguilles Rouges & Mont Blanc ranges
 50% of the area > 2500m, 33% of the area = glaciers, 22% forests
Arve headwater (205 km²)
Discharge (m3/s)
Chamonix
Module
Month
 Glacier & snow dominated regime  High spat./temp. variability
 Flash floods
 High interannual variability
Long term observations
Met. Data
Water height
Snow depth
Enhanced network since 2014
Enhanced network since 2014
Enhanced network since 2014
Enhanced network since 2014
Enhanced network since 2014
Conclusion ad outlook
Arve headwater

Data availability:
- long term (>20 years) data series available upon request.
Contacts: DREAL Rhône Alpes, EDF, Météo France
- 20 years of meteorological and glaciological data labelled
GLACIOCLIM OS available on the GLACIOCLIM ftp site:
http://www-lgge.ujf-grenoble.fr/ServiceObs/SiteWebPOG/index.htm
Contact : delphine.six@lgge.obs.ujf-grenoble.fr
- meteorological and hydrological data from the enhanced network
available upon request (ftp site coming soon …).
Contacts : thomas.condom@ird.fr, isabella.zin@ujf-grenoble.fr

Good test bed for integrative studies around the water cycle (process
interactions and feedbacks, scaling issues, global change issues,
distributed models development and evaluation)

Strong interest for constituting a network of mountain hydrology
catchments and share experiences
Windless site BUT heterogeneity of snowpack
due to the presence of instruments
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