Global changes: characterization, impacts & adaptations

Climate change, global change, outlook, adaptation, resilience, hydrology modelling, future climate simulation, water resource availability, extreme events, impacts on ecosystems, ecological issues

This course provides students with an insight into the climatic, environmental and anthropogenic changes impacting our hydro-eco-socio-systems today and in the future.

The activities focus on a number of non-exhaustive aspects of this vast and constantly evolving field.

In addition to presenting issues, figures and concepts, students learn about hydrological modeling tools that can be used to develop future scenarios for resource development. They analyze a specific subject by combining different disciplines and approaches. They discuss possible adaptations to cope with the impact of change.

The activities consist of 3 parts: The course activity, the modeling activity and the bibliography activity.

- The courses explain the principles of climate modeling, the construction of climate change scenarios and their limitations. The orders of magnitude of the main changes are outlined, as well as the major challenges of sustainable development, climate change and global change. A special focus is placed on French Mediterranean watersheds (climate change hot spots, declining availability of water resources, agricultural practices and adaptations, irrigation, tourism, etc.).

- The concepts of hydrological modeling and calibration in a non-stationary or poorly gauged context are taught, and an introduction to hydrological modeling is given with an application case. Students work with general hydrological models (such as GR, HEC-HMS or WEAP) to evaluate flows and balances, feed them with climate model outputs, generate future flow and balance scenarios, and critique the resulting scenarios. The modeling work carried out in small groups is the subject of an oral presentation.

- Finally, the bibliography compiled in class and completed independently should enable students to specialize around a concrete case study of a change occurring in a compartment of a natural or urbanized hydro-eco-system (chosen by the students). They carry out a bibliographical analysis to identify the societal or environmental issues arising from these changes, as well as the scientific questions inherent in the implementation of impact reduction or adaptation measures. They must identify how their case study is similar to others, but also how it differs from them. Finally, they open their analysis with a more general methodology, applicable to other case studies, for characterizing these changes, their impacts and adaptation measures. Learners write

an operational summary (bibliography, similar case studies, controversies, operational tools, protocols, orders of magnitude). They then pitch their findings to the class.

- Understand the mechanisms of global change (processes, interactions, combined effects, hydrological impacts) and the limits of their characterization (uncertainties, available modeling tools).

- Use a scientific approach to solve a concrete problem

- Write an operational briefing note

- Communicate in an effective format (pitch type)

UE du M1 S1 Ecosystèmes aquatiques et terrestres (or equivalent), reading of a general hydrology textbook, IPCC summaries

Continuous assessment based on final project presentation (and interim reports)