Système Climatique : Atmosphère, Hydrosphère, Cryosphère 1st and 2nd year

This course covers an area and knowledge that will be useful for both vocational and research programmes.

1. Physical hydrology, slope processes (Cédric Legoût)
2. Hydrology for engineers (Théo Vischel)

Provide the hydrological concepts for addressing issues of predetermination of floods:

• analysis of the rainfall-runoff relationship;
• application of flood predetermination methods.

3. Open-channel hydraulics and river hydraulics (Philippe Belleudy)

Which elements of your fluid mechanics courses might be useful for the study and practice of river hydraulics problems?

• head loss and backwater curve;
• gradually varied flows;
• shocks and transitions of the water regime;
• gravity, inertia and friction: non-permanent open-channel flows;
• application: facilities to combat flood risk;
• solid transport and river morphology; several impact studies.

4. Closed-conduit hydraulics (Jean-Pierre Vandervaere)

Visit the full page about this course

This course provides basics in fluid mechanics. This includes hydrostatic, fluid kinematics and Euler equation for ideal fluid. Bernoulli formula are then derived and examples of application are presented. The case of non-ideal fluid and Navier-Stokes formula are afterwards established. The NS equation is solved for classical simple cases (e.g. Couette flow). Turbulence is shortly introduced during a 3h practical course held at the Coriolys experiment.

This course comprises 21h of CM/TD, and a 3h practical course.

The final exam is a 2h examination. The "controle continu" is a written homework.

Visit the full page about this course

Every year, mankind emits into the environment large quantities of chemical compounds, notably organic ones, some of which may have an environmental impact far from where or when they were emitted.

The primary objective of this course is to learn how to analyse environmental problems, to estimate the most important phenomena and to provide first-order approximate answers to these problems. By the end of the course, you should:

- Be able to define a simple model to evaluate the fate of chemical compounds in the environment: box models
- Be able to solve this type of model, if necessary numerically with a common tool (python)
- Understand how / where to find data to configure these models
- Know some methods for evaluating the uncertainties of your numerical model
- Develop some environmental common sense

## Teaching language

- all courses documents are available in both english and french
- most activities are group-based, and groups work either in english or french depending on people present - there is always at leas a french group and at least an english group

Visit the full page about this course

What are the scientific issues associated with climate and environmental variability?
How does this variability play out on global, regional and local scales?
With which statistical tools can we describe it?

This course aims, through practical work on a machine, to address these questions.

The objective is to acquire :
a culture of climate and environmental sciences
a knowledge of statistical tools to describe climate and environmental variability
skills in several numerical data treatment languages (R and Python) in an ergonomic programming environment (Jupyter

Language: French and English

Visit the full page about this course

Meteorology is a fascinating subject. Because of its very nature, it is never constant or boring. General Meteorology consists of knowledge of the structure of the atmosphere, physical lows steering the distribution of atmospheric variables, such as temperature, humidity, winds, pressure and dynamics of air masses resulting in changes and weather and climate in different regions of the Earth. 

Visit the full page about this course

Préparer l’étudiant aux métiers visés par la formation, autant les métiers de chercheur que ceux de chargés d’étude dans le privé. Formulation d’un CV, entraînement aux entretiens d’embauche, la structuration d’une publication scientifique et d'un rapport d'études, la connaissance des outils de recherche et de mise en forme d’une publication, un enseignement sur le fonctionnement des bureaux d’étude et de la législation en vigueur font partie de cette préparation. Nous insistons sur le fait que les futurs thésards ou ceux qui entrent directement dans le monde du travail doivent connaître les deux mondes.

Visit the full page about this course

The goal of this module is to introduce students to the energy and environmental issues raised by the modern quest for economic growth and to map out the potential of the ecological transition. This series of courses is structured along three main axes: an introduction to environmental discourses on growth and limits; a zoom on the climate-energy-raw material nexus; a “map” of the possibilities for low-carbon economies. 

Students will learn about the physical foundations of economic growth. We will look at both the importance of economic growth (and energy use) for human welfare and the huge environmental footprint of growth. Students will explore different − sometimes radically different − perspectives on issues ranging from what makes growth possible and whether economic growth is sustainable in a physically finite world to what is to be done about environmental destruction and climate change. Specifically, they will learn about 3 schools of thought relevant to the academic conversation about the limits to growth: (1) the degrowth perspective, (2) the green growth perspective, and (3) cornucopianism.

Students are introduced to climate change studies and to the major social and environmental challenges of the Anthropocene. Living most fossil fuels in the ground to meet the conditions of the Paris Agreement and transitioning to low-carbon economies implies an increasing demand on mineral resources. This course deals with the demand for raw materials in a low-carbon world and the challenges that come along (energy transition scenarios and energy mixes, extraction and processing of raw materials, environmental (in)justice…) .

Visit the full page about this course

This module is intended to acquire and deepen the basics of computer programming and computer environments that will be used throughout the Master's programme. It consists of 6 hours of lectures and 18 hours of practical work on computers. The practical sessions are adapted to the level of each student.

Visit the full page about this course

The aim of this module is to explain the chemical reactor that is the atmosphere, in order to describe the main types of pollution affecting it.

The first part of the course consists of reminders of the structure of the atmosphere and its composition, insisting on the diversity of this composition. The concepts of wells, sources and lifespan are also reviewed and illustrated by atmospheric examples where the lifespans are related to the transport times that can be observed in the different layers of the atmosphere. The importance of temperature inversion situations in the establishment of pollution episodes is illustrated with examples of pollution concerning, in particular, the Grenoble basin.

Subsequently, the means for quantifying the processes (deposits, chemical or photochemical reactions) responsible for elimination or formation of the main air pollutants are described: units, chemical and photochemical kinetics applied to the atmosphere, calculation of concentrations, etc.

Lastly, the different types of pollution to which the atmosphere may be subjected are addressed:

-        The different types of air pollution episodes

-        Regulatory concepts: ASQAA, information and alert thresholds, public regulatory measures, etc.

-        Particulate pollution and public health aspects

-        Acid rain and London smog

-        Urban ozone pollution (photochemical smog)

-        Ozone layer and ozone hole: an example of global pollution

The last course session prepares students for the 4-day mini-internship that takes place in the month of March. The objective of these four days is for the students, working in pairs or groups of three, to conduct measurements of some of the most representative pollutants in urban areas: ozone, nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds. Besides the measurements that may be carried out, our objective through this mini-internship is to raise awareness of the particularities and difficulties that can be posed by environmental measurements in general, and atmospheric measurements in particular. The procedure for carrying out the atmospheric sampling and analysis is explained to the students, who will then be free to define for themselves the questions they wish to answer with the measurements they take (many different ways of measuring a given pollutant).

Visit the full page about this course

Snow is a critical component of the Earth climate system. It is a singular interface between the atmosphere and the soil, where occur intense exchanges of mass (water/ice), energy (radiative, turbulent), and chemical species (N, ...). It plays a major role in the hydrology of mountainous areas (water resource), in ecology, in the thermal regime of soil (permafrost), ...

The training “neige et atmosphère au Lautaret” aims to observe the Alpine snow and the atmosphere from various perspectives: surface mass and energy budget, snow, thermal regime, chemistry. The objective is to acquire new knowledge on snow and associated issues, as well as technical and experimental skills.

This training is based on autonomy and active pedagogy. You will work in group of 3 persons and use “research-grade” instruments and techniques, process your data in order to eventually produce elaborated scientific results that will be present as posters.

The program comprises the following topics:

- snow depth mapping (GPS, GPR, 2x 0.5 day)
- snow stratigraphy in snowpits, snow metamorphism (2x 0.5 day)
- snow thermal regime (0.5 day).
- snow albedo and surface energy budget, micro-meteorology (0.5 day).
- atmospheric ozone (0.5 day).
- snow optics (0.5 day).
- data processing and interpretation (0.5 day)

This training is open to a few international students and professionals (Master, PhD) every year, depending on the number of UGA students.

Visit the full page about this course

In geoscience, it is important to know how to appreciate the precision and the accuracy of a physical measurement, to correctly interpret and compare it with other measurements. This module begins with a short introduction to the theory of measurement (metrology) (course 6h) which will be put into practice (TP 9h) by the statistical analysis of datasets of measurements that you will acquire yourself in the TP.
In a second part, the module deals with instrumentation, firstly in a general way (the principles and the problems specific to geosciences, 6h) illustrated by a TP where you will assemble a simple instrument (temperature logger) from the electronic components .

All this will then be put into practice in a concrete and real case of measures (24h total). You will perform precise positioning measurements on a landslide in Trièves, by GPS and by tacheometry (field trip of one day). When analyzing the data obtained, we will benefit from the redundancy of the measurements and the independence of the two techniques to quantify the distances between several measurement points with their uncertainties. The results in terms of distances will be compared with measurements from previous years to assess if the landslide is active, and if so, how and how fast it is moving. This module allows you to acquire the basics of GPS operation and tachometry (course 6h), to obtain a field measurement experience (one day), and to test several freely available software as well as webservices to analyze GPS data (TD 12h).

Visit the full page about this course

This hydrology trainee course occurs on the ‘Gazel’ and ‘Claduègne’ watershed sites in the French Ardèche department. To note that the landscapes are appreciated not only from hydrologists but also from tourists of the entire planet. The investigated watersheds are monitored since 2011 by the ‘Observatoire Hydrométéorologique Méditerranéen Cévennes-Vivarais’ (http://www.earth-syst-sci-data-discuss.net/essd-2016-32/) for a better understanding of the processes leading to the flash floods, and associated improvement of their prediction. Teaching occurs on site in small group (5-6 students) workshops and combines both theoretical and practical training and on-site hypothesis testing. Teaching focuses on an integrated understanding approach, that means the transmission of watershed-relevant hydrological, meteorological, pedological, geophysical, geochemical, ecological and geomorphological knowledge. Courses are performed by the staff of observatory researchers and professors (http://www.osug.fr/) in their respective domain of their specialized knowledge, the Environmental Geosciences Institute (http://www.ige-grenoble.fr/) is specifically involved.

Lange d’enseignement / Teaching language: french, with english support, see the ‘Hydroressource’ main page.

Visit the full page about this course

This course offers a broad and practical introduction to Earth Observation from space and to Geographic Information System (GIS). The course works on a basis of 3h lecture associated to 3h of practical work using the free software QGIS. Course are usually given in French. In addition, a project using QGIS has to be by small groups of students, including 9h (3x3h) with teacher support in computer room.

The structure of the courses is:

first part is common to all the student (from January to February winter break)

+ Introduction to GIS: 3h course + 3h practical
+ Basics of Remote Sensing (1): 3h course + 3h practical
+ Basics of Remote Sensing (2): 3h course + 3h practical
+ Classification methods: 3h course + 3h practical

The second part of the course depends of the program followed by the students : 

for Geophysics, Geodynamics, Georesources and Georisks programs: 
+ Remote-Sensing and GIS applied to geology:  3h course 
+ Remote-Sensing and GIS applied to geophysics:  3h course 
+ Remote-Sensing and GIS applied to continental surfaces:  3h course
+ Remote-Sensing and GIS applied to planetology:  3h course + 3h practical

for Hydro-resources and Atmosphere-Climate-Continental Landmass programs: 
+ Remote-Sensing and GIS applied to continental surfaces:  3h course 
+ Remote-Sensing and GIS applied to Digital Elevation Surface:  3h course + 3h practical
+ Remote-Sensing and GIS applied to atmosphere:  3h course
+ Remote-Sensing and GIS applied to Ocean:  3h course
 
Evaluation will be based on a written exam at mid-term, a written report about the project, and a final written exam covering all the lectures and practicals.

Visit the full page about this course

Visit the full page about this course

The objective of this course is to understand the principles and the application of machine learning methods (one of the branches of artificial intelligence) in the context of geosciences. To do so, we will introduce the concepts, the main uses in geosciences (detection/understanding of natural phenomena from satellite imagery, time series, etc.), the main problems addressed (regression, classification and unsupervised learning) as well as the main methods (random forests, PCA..). Finally, we will briefly introduce deep learning methods.

The main goal of this course is to know how to use these tools by oneself, to understand the main problems, but also to understand their limits. For this, the module is based on 12 hours of practical work in Python.

Pre-requisites:
Basic knowledge of Python programming and mathematics.

Languages: English, French

Visit the full page about this course

Environmental flows lecture aims at introducing geophysical fluid dynamic and showing how mechanistic approaches are commonly applied to describe the flows. The atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) is presented as an example, It is associated with its boundary conditions, namely the energy budget at the surface and the geostrophic circulation at the top.

1. Introduction and surface boundary conditions for ABL
2. Mathematical decription of ABL
3. Introduction to turbulence
4. Similarity theory
5. Measurements in ABL

Visit the full page about this course

This course is given in English (or in French if all students are french speaking).

The course is a physical approach of the climatic change at the global level, in line with the Working group I of the IPCC .

The lectures (about 33-36h) give an overview of climate change causes and mechanisms at the global level. They are given by researchers of the IGE laboratory (**), and some visitors if any. Topics covered by these lectures are the following (they may slightly change depending on researchers availability):

- A global view of the surface warming, and its relationship with climatic forcings;

- Climatic sensitivities; scenarios of future warming;

- Extreme climatic events;

- Paleoclimatic variations and what they tell us on mechanisms;

- Modelling climate, from 1D to 3D models;

- A regional model, application to the mountain climate.

Students have a practical project to discuss a dataset, with the goal to get some grasp on what the data can tell us, their uncertainty, bias, etc. Outputs are both a written and an oral presentations of the results.

Visit the full page about this course

The course will be teached in french, it can be given in english if requested

This course aims at providing a general background in glaciology focusing on qualitative (review of all forms of ice on Erath) as well as quantitative aspects (model description, various computational exercices).

A first part is dedicated to a rather comprehensive description of the various forms of ice and their environmental impacts (interactions with the climate system and more generally on the environment like sea level for instance). A focus is proposed on sea ice owing to its high sensitivity to climate warming expressing nowadays under the form of a pronounced retreat in the Arctic. A small exercice  is proposed to understand and simply reproduce the formation of sea ice. Water ressources in connection with the cryosphere are also considered. Ice mechanics and their consequences on the ice flow via ice flow models are then treated with an emphasis on the archiving process in ice cores where optimal conditions, notably for datation purposes, are addressed.

A second part (equivalent in size to the first) is dedicated to snow as such. There, the detailed structure of the snow crystals is proposed along with its evolution through time as a result of local conditions leading to the so-called snow metamorphism with environmental implications (radiative properties, mechanical stability..). The climate role of snow is emphasized through its radiative properties and is tackled  with the help of surface energy balance models.

A third part consists of an active participation from the students during which they work on a bibliographic study under the supervision of one scientist from IGE. After choosing one  or several scientific publications on selected glaciological topics, each tandem presents an oral synthesis to all other groups which serves as a basis for the continuous eveluation (contrôle continu).

Visit the full page about this course

The flows in the atmosphere, in the oceans, in the atmospheres of the giant planets, in the liquid core of the Earth, and even in stars are specific essentially by two aspects: (1) the global rotation to which they are subjected, which is reflected in the Coriolis force; and (2) the stratification of the fluid into layers of varying density, subject to a gravity field. These two characteristics radically change the behavior of fluids. The objective of this course is to define the key concepts, to give the necessary tools to study these systems, and to give a physical meaning to these flows which often defy intuition.

After an introduction to fluid dynamics, a first part focuses on the effect of rotation, in a general way and then in the particular case of thin layers, relevant for the modeling of oceanic and atmospheric flows. An important part of the course is dedicated to the study of waves encountered in geophysical flows (inertial and gravity waves, Rossby waves). A second part focuses on the effect of density variations: thermal convection, viscous density currents (glaciers, volcanic flows) or turbulent currents (atmospheric density currents, turbidity currents, pyroclastic flows). For each phenomenon, specific examples are given and the theory is detailed.

Teaching language: French or english

Visit the full page about this course

Visit the full page about this course

This course describes the processes of solar and terrestrial energy transfer through environmental mediums, particularly the atmosphere, for applications in climate science (greenhouse effect) and in space and terrestrial remote sensing. Theoretically, the course introduces radiative variables (radiance, irradiance, albedo, emissivity), absorption and scattering processes, the radiative transfer equation, blackbody radiation, and the energy balance of surfaces.

These theoretical elements will enable students to understand and quantify the greenhouse effect in detail, particularly the different roles played by CO2 and water vapor. The same tools will be applied in space remote sensing to understand how surface properties (soil, snow, water, ice) influence signals recorded by satellites, and in turn, how these signals can be used to quantify surface properties.

The second part of the course will cover a detailed application: the use of weather radar to estimate precipitation rates and other hydrometeorological information.

The third part consists of a GIS project (9 hours) independently completed by each student, aimed at improving their skills in Geographic Information System software (QGIS) to create digital maps and perform quantitative analyses. This project differs from the Master 1 project by involving more advanced use of QGIS and possibly the use of Python for large-scale geospatial processing.

Overall, this course is designed for students who want to deepen their knowledge in space and terrestrial remote sensing (in a quantitative manner) and in climate system functioning (energy balance). It is also relevant for instrumentalists who use light sources, microwaves, or infrared to probe the environment (laser, GPR, thermal camera, etc.).

Visit the full page about this course

A new course that will follow the one in the 2nd semester of the first year, but that can also be chosen by students with previous experience in the field. A detailed description will be posted later, in the meantime look at the corresponding UE of the first year.

This course introduces the main deep learning methods relevant for Earth Science applications, where the processing of time series and images (sometimes noisy, incomplete) and forecasting are routine problems. This includes for example Convolutional Neural Networks, Recurrent Neural Networks, and Generative Networks.

Pre-requisites: Ideally: Introduction to Machine Learning in Earth Sciences, course from the first year of STPE Master. If not: good knowledge in Python, basic notions in differential calculation and linear algebra.

Languages: English, French

Visit the full page about this course

Physics of the Atmospheric Boundary Layer: role in the climate system, vertical structure and simple models. Microphysics of cloud formation and of aerosols. Impact of aerosols on air quality and climate.

Visit the full page about this course

The atmospheric boundary layer in complex terrain, for stable (wintertime) and unstable (summertime) conditions. Application to air quality from an operational view point.

Visit the full page about this course

The objective of this project-oriented course is to deepen, according to the student's choices, one or more aspects seen in the "Numerical Modeling", "Advanced Signal Processing", "Advanced Machine Learning" and "Data Assimilation" (note that depending on your parcours / path, not all these courses may be accessible) courses on a project carried out in autonomy with a teacher-referent on a particular subject.

Visit the full page about this course

Le cours introduit des bases théoriques et méthodologiques pour la résolution de problèmes d’assimilation de données (inversion de données distribuées dans le temps) en sciences de la Terre. Les méthodes principalement abordées sont le filtre de Kalman (canonique et d'ensemble), le filtre particulaire, et le 4DVar. Il est produit sous forme de cours magistraux interactifs incluant la présentation et la manipulation d’exercices sous forme numérique en python. En fin de cours, les étudiant·es sont en capacité de :

• poser un problème d'assimilation de données simple et mettre en oeuvre une méthode de résolution ;

• communiquer avec des experts d'assimilation pour progresser vers la résolution de problèmes complexes.

Langue : français ou anglais 

...................................................................................................................................................................................................................

The course introduces theoretical and methodological foundations for solving data assimilation problems (inversion of time-distributed data) in the Earth sciences. The main methods covered are the Kalman filter (canonical and ensemble), the particle filter, and the 4DVar. It is produced in the form of interactive lectures including the presentation and manipulation of exercises in numerical form in Python. At the end of the course, students will be able to :

• pose a simple data assimilation problem and implement a solution method

• communicate with data assimilation experts to progress towards solving complex problems.

Language: French or English

Visit the full page about this course

• Objectives
  • To be able to produce regionalized (spatial) data, e.g. on a watershed, using several methods.
  • To understand notions of meteorology (general circulation, thermodynamics, perecipitation) and climatology (climate model, climate change scenario) required for hydrological forecasting.
  • To be aware of the need to take into account non stationarities (climate or change in land use) in long-term hydrological forecasting and management of water resources.
  • To be able to apply new methodologies for hydrological forecasting at several lags.
    
    

• Content

  An approach linked with research is privileged in this in-depth module.
  It is divided into three parts:

  1. Meteorology and climatology.
  2. Geostatistics and spatial data;
  3. Forecast and management of water resources in a non stationary context.

  A short-project in the module called "Engineering of hydraulic structure" III will allow to link the three areas teached in this module.

• Evaluation

  Session normale / First session
  Evaluation rattrapable (ER) / ER assessment : devoir surveillé écrit de 3h / 3 hours supervised written exam
  Evaluation non rattrapable (EN) / EN assessment : 3 comptes rendus de BE / 3 Lab reports

• Language : English

Visit the full page about this course

L'objectif de cette UE est de présenter l'ensemble des connaissances nécessaires à la compréhension du cycle continental de l'eau. Les variables, leurs liens entre elles et les méthodes de mesure sont présentées. Les équations de transfert et d'infiltration verticale sont présentées ensuite ainsi que quelques cas d'étude particuliers. Une séance TP porte sur un sujet à approfondir au choix parmi deux.

Visit the full page about this course

The water cycle is tightly coupled to climate change (and more generally to global changes) at all time and space scales. After a brief introduction on the observed continental hydrological cycle changes at the global level; and on the associated methods (detection, attribution, projection); the course will focus on these changes (and their impacts and possible adaptation strategies) at finer scales in different regions of the world. This second part will be done mainly in the form of TD/TPs.

Recommended prerequisites: Some background in climate/meteorology/hydrology. Practical experience in programming and/or numerical/statistical analysis of environmental data series (e.g. Climatic and Environmental variability EU)

Language: French

Visit the full page about this course

The objective of this course is to train students in the numerical methods used to solve the classical partial differential equations of the Earth sciences, with methods such as finite difference, finite element, spectral methods, ... This course is structured around theoretical lectures presenting the methods and their numerical properties, and practical work on simple practical problems. The practical application on more complex problems and the deepening of the methods will be approached in the project-oriented UE "Computing and data analysis Project".

Visit the full page about this course

After a short introduction to the observations of the worlds oceans in the past and present, the forces acting on the ocean are discussed. We will then see how the forcing put the water masses of the ocean into motion. An important question is: how can the forcing, which acts on the surface of the ocean influence the motion in the deep ocean? This leads to a discussion of the two principal types of basin scale ocean circulation: the gyre and the overturning circulation. We then discuss small scale processes of the ocean dynamics including their importance on the large scale ocean circulation.

Visit the full page about this course

Introduction to surface and internal gravity waves in fluids. Nonlinear and dissipative effects and associated wave impact on the medium. Wave-current interaction. Examples in natural media (such as coastal waters).

Visit the full page about this course

This internship must be carried out for at least 6 weeks. It aims to discover the professional environment, business or research laboratory, whose themes are linked to the objectives of each course. 

Visit the full page about this course

This internship has a minimum duration of 4 months and constitutes the finalization of each student's master's project. It can serve as a gateway to the professional world or preparatory to a doctorate. It must be closely linked to the chosen master's course.

Visit the full page about this course