Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
Atomic Energy Review

hal-01319666
http://hal.univ-reunion.fr/hal-01319666
DOI : 10.1016/j.energy.2015.07.089

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Tropical islands are characterized by thermal and orographical forcings which may generate microscale air mass circulations. The Lesser Antilles Arc includes small tropical islands (width lower than 50 km) where a total of one-and-a-half million people live. Air quality over this region is affected by anthropogenic and volcanic emissions, or saharan dust. To reduce risks for the population health, the atmospheric dispersion of emitted pollutants must be predicted. In this study, the dispersion of anthropogenic nitrogen oxides (NOx) is numerically modelled over the densely populated area of the Guadeloupe archipelago under weak trade winds, during a typical case of severe pollution. The main goal is to analyze how microscale resolutions affect air pollution in a small tropical island. Three resolutions of domain grid are selected: 1 km, 333 m and 111 m. The Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF) is used to produce real nested microscale meteorological fields. Then the weather outputs initialize the Lagrangian Particle Dispersion Model (FLEXPART). The forward simulations of a power plant plume showed good ability to reproduce nocturnal peaks recorded by an urban air quality station. The increase in resolution resulted in an improvement of model sensitivity. The nesting to subkilometer grids helped to reduce an overestimation bias mainly because the LES domains better simulate the turbulent motions governing nocturnal flows. For peaks observed at two air quality stations, the backward sensitivity outputs identified realistic sources of NOx in the area. The increase in resolution produced a sharper inverse plume with a more accurate source area. This study showed the first application of the FLEXPART-WRF model to microscale resolutions. Overall, the coupling model WRF-LES-FLEXPART is useful to simulate the pollutant dispersion during a real case of calm wind regime over a complex terrain area. The forward and backward simulation results showed clearly that the subkilometer resolution of 333 m is necessary to reproduce realistic air pollution patterns in this case of short-range transport over a complex terrain area. Globally, this work contributes to enrich the sparsely documented domain of real nested microscale air pollution modelling. This study dealing with the determination of the proper resolution grid and proper turbulence scheme, is of significant interest to the near-source and complex terrain air quality research community.
ISSN: 1352-2310

hal-01349208
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01349208
DOI : 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2016.05.028

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Public Library of Science
Résumé : Precise mapping of above-ground biomass (AGB) is a major challenge for the success of REDD+ processes in tropical rainforest. The usual mapping methods are based on two hypotheses: a large and long-ranged spatial autocorrelation and a strong environment influence at the regional scale. However, there are no studies of the spatial structure of AGB at the landscapes scale to support these assumptions. We studied spatial variation in AGB at various scales using two large forest inventories conducted in French Guiana. The dataset comprised 2507 plots (0.4 to 0.5 ha) of undisturbed rainforest distributed over the whole region. After checking the uncertainties of estimates obtained from these data, we used half of the dataset to develop explicit predictive models including spatial and environmental effects and tested the accuracy of the resulting maps according to their resolution using the rest of the data. Forest inventories provided accurate AGB estimates at the plot scale, for a mean of 325 Mg.ha^-1. They revealed high local variability combined with a weak autocorrelation up to distances of no more than10 km. Environmental variables accounted for a minor part of spatial variation. Accuracy of the best model including spatial effects was 90 Mg.ha^-1 at plot scale but coarse graining up to 2-km resolution allowed mapping AGB with accuracy lower than 50 Mg.ha^-1. Whatever the resolution, no agreement was found with available pan-tropical reference maps at all resolutions. We concluded that the combined weak autocorrelation and weak environmental effect limit AGB maps accuracy in rainforest, and that a trade-off has to be found between spatial resolution and effective accuracy until adequate “wall-to-wall” remote sensing signals provide reliable AGB predictions. Waiting for this, using large forest inventories with low sampling rate (<0.5%) may be an efficient way to increase the global coverage of AGB maps with acceptable accuracy at kilometric resolution
ISSN: 1932-6203

hal-01269305
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01269305
DOI : 10.1371/journal.pone.0138456
PRODINRA : 326359

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Oxford University Press (OUP)
Résumé : International audience
No major earthquake occurred in North Chile since the 1877 Mw 8.6 subduction earthquake that produced a huge tsunami. However, geodetic measurements conducted over the last decade in this area show that the upper plate is actually deforming, which reveals some degree of locking on the subduction interface. This accumulation of elastic deformation is likely to be released in a future earthquake. Because of the long elapsed time since 1877 and the rapid accumulation of deformation (thought to be 6-7 cm yr−1), many consider this area is a mature seismic gap where a major earthquake is due and seismic hazard is high. We present a new Global Positioning System (GPS) velocity field, acquired between 2008 and 2012, that describes in some detail the interseismic deformation between 18°S and 24°S. We invert for coupling distribution on the Nazca-South America subduction interface using elastic modelling. Our measurements require that, at these latitudes, 10 to 12 mm yr−1 (i.e. 15 per cent of the whole convergence rate) are accommodated by the clockwise rotation of an Andean block bounded to the East by the subandean fold-and-thrust belt. This reduces the accumulation rate on the subduction interface to 56 mm yr−1 in this area. Coupling variations on the subduction interface both along-strike and along-dip are described. We find that the North Chile seismic gap is segmented in at least two highly locked segments bounded by narrow areas of weak coupling. This coupling segmentation is consistent with our knowledge of the historical ruptures and of the instrumental seismicity of the region. Intersegment zones (Iquique, Mejillones) correlate with high background seismic rate and local tectonic complexities on the upper or downgoing plates. The rupture of either the Paranal or the Loa segment alone could easily produce a Mw 8.0-8.3 rupture, and we propose that the Loa segment (from 22.5°S to 20.8°S) may be the one that ruptured in 1877.
ISSN: 0956-540X

hal-00941279
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00941279
DOI : 10.1093/gji/ggt183

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
Modelling techniques for river hydrologic forecasting systems have taken advantage of machine learning methods especially for flood prediction. But current solutions, mostly based on artificial neural networks do not always meet end users requirements on the readability and the understandability of predictive models. In this paper, we present a new version of our original solution based on the concept of aggregate variables in order to predict flash flood events from observed water level and/or rain measurements, particularly in the context of caribbean watersheds in which flash flood are much uncertain. We combine aggregate variables in juries. Juries of aggregate variables are trained and tested using a typical 10-fold cross validation scheme. Best juries are searched through an evolutionary approach that is optimized. Different parameters are set up like aggregation periods and jury sizes to prove the efficiency of the proposed approach compared to classical solutions.
Congress on Evolutionary Computation (CEC) 2013
Cancun, Mexico

hal-00847582
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00847582
DOI : 10.1109/CEC.2013.6557656

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
This paper focuses on the study of the behaviour of a singular classifier system, the Adapted Pittsburgh Classifier System (A.P.C.S), on environments containing aliasing situations. Maze type environments are often used in reinforcement learning literature to assess the performances of learning methods when facing problems containing non Markovian situations. Those situations are often encountered when performing reinforcement learning on aliased data samples issued from meteorological simulations.
International Journal of Artificial Intelligence

hal-00520611
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00520611

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : At present, the forecasting of littoral evolution presents a considerable social stake. Many studies have been achieved to better understand coastal dynamics. Such dynamics are controlled by morphology, sediment supply, hydrodynamics, eustacy... at different time scales. At geological time scale, deposits geometry, controlled by eustacy and subsidence, is succesfully analysed where sediment supply is high. But the littoral zones present important sediment supply variability. In low sediment supply areas, the record of coastal tracts is smaller and harder to interprete. Analyses of about 250 kilometres of new VHR seismic profiles acquired along the languedocian coast (Northern Gulf of Lion, France), tens of short cores and outcrops data allowed us to determine the three-dimensional high-resolution geometry of the coastal tracts from Quaternary to present-day. This highlighted the role of alongshore dynamics in coast where direct sediment supply is low. The concepts of protected lagoon and isolated lagoon were broughted to the fore and the effect of inherited incised valley morphology was discussed. Last, a complementary study by analogue modeling of the channel incision processes controled by eustatic and climatic changes allowed to discuss the role of incised valleys in coastal areas.
Actuellement, la prévision de l'évolution d'un système littoral représente un enjeu social important. De nombreuses études sont réalisées afin de mieux connaitre la dynamique côtière et donc de comprendre les facteurs qui influencent son évolution. Cette dynamique est contrôlée par la morphologie, les apports sédimentaires, l'hydrodynamique, l'eustatisme... qui agissent à des échelles de temps différentes et avec de fortes interactions. A l'échelle géologique, l'architecture des dépôts, contrôlée par l'eustatisme et la subsidence, est parfaitement décrite dans les zones à forts apports sédimentaires. Par contre, dans les zones à faibles apports sédimentaires, l'enregistrement des cortèges côtiers est réduit et est difficile à interpréter. L'analyse de 250 kilomètres de profils sismiques THR sur le littoral languedocien (Nord du Golfe du Lion, France), de carottages et de données de terrain a permis de déterminer la géométrie en trois dimensions des cortèges sédimentaires côtiers depuis le Quaternaire jusqu'à l'actuel. Ces observations montrent l'importance de la dynamique longshore sur les littoraux pauvres en apports sédimentaires directs. De plus, l'étude d'un système lagunaire sur ce littoral met en évidence les concepts de lagunes protégées et lagunes isolées ainsi que l'importance des vallées incisées dans la génèse de ces environnements. Enfin, la modélisation en laboratoire des processus d'incision de chenaux sous contrôle eustatique et climatique permet de discuter le rôle des vallées incisées en milieu côtier.
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00542897

tel-00542897
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00542897
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00542897/document
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00542897/file/theseraynaldef.pdf

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
In the context of climate change, this study presents the ability of major/trace elements together with strontiumisotopes to trace back water paths at small scale and to deconvolve the geochemical signal of a small watershedsubject to intense flash floods episodes (Peyne, Hérault, France). Two small sub-basins draining distinct lithologiesin their heads (Plio-Villafranchian conglomerate versus Triassic gypsum-rich marls and dolomites) and the sameMiocene lithology downstream are investigated.Major elements and Ca/Na vs. Mg/Na ratios classically applied at large scale to distinguish carbonate from silicateweathering, allow here discriminating the three main lithologies from the two sub-basins. Trace elements Rband Sr coupled to calcium, also allow this lithological discrimination but in addition the Ca/Rb vs. Sr/Rb tracersappear to be much more discriminant for the various hydrological conditions. Thus, in combination with detailedlithological descriptions, they allow identifying the different facies that imprint the water signature through water-rock interaction according to the hydrological conditions.Strontium isotopes and Rb/Sr ratio, discriminate more precisely the drained lithologies of the 2 sub-basins. Firstly,the 87Sr/86Sr ratios allow identifying the nature of the lithologies and their main component(s) contributing to theSr budget in water and thus imprint the isotopic signature. Secondly, Sr isotopes evidenced two distinct Miocenefacies: the detritric faction (sandy marls), and the marine carbonates.The geochemical signatures of the brook samples draining both compartments were compared to the signatureof the Peyne River outlet just before the confluence into the Hérault River. It appears that the signature of thePeyne River, integrating all the water draining the basin, is relatively stable whatever the hydrological conditionsand mainly marked by the Miocene formations. Sr isotopes further highlight that this signature seems to resultfrom the mixing of both Miocene facies present in the lower part of the Peyne watershed, i.e. the sandy marls andthe carbonates. The typical signatures of the Plio-Villafanchian conglomerates and Triassic gypsiferous marls anddolomites of the headwaters of each sub-basin are completely hidden by the Miocene signatures. This should berelated to the large drainage area of the Miocene compared to other lithologies, despite the high solubility of thegypsum formations releasing large quantities of dissolved elements in solution.Understanding water paths at small scale is even more efficient when the geochemical approach is coupled with adetailed geological description. Indeed, the geochemical tracers are extremely dependent on the facies sequences(morphology) and of the soil nature (mineralogical composition), this is particularly sensitive at small scale.In the context of climate change increasing the intensity of rain events in the Mediterranean region, and resultingin catastrophic floods events (flash floods), tracing the origin of water contributing to the runoff is of primaryimportance and this must be investigated at small scale. Geochemical and isotopic fingerprinting thus constituteexcellent tools which can help to define the area of interest to be monitored in the framework of flood forecast andwarning networks
EGU General Assembly 2015
Vienne, Austria

hal-01118622
https://hal-brgm.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01118622

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier Masson
Résumé : International audience
After noting the forecast of a La Niña episode, associated with heavy rainfall in French Guiana, we monitored the fate of wasp nests before and during the 2006 short rainy season. The population of the most abundant epiponine wasp species, Polybia bistriata, decreased dramatically during the short rainy season (60.6% of the nests disappeared) then remained low for at least 18 months. Colonies that survived moved from the shelter of large, low leaves (a situation well adapted to the previous dry season) of the most frequent substrate tree, Clusia grandiflora (Clusiaceae), to upper leaves, better ventilated and whose orientation provides good protection from the rain. Therefore, the possibility of moving the nest higher during the first rains following the dry season seems very adaptive as colonies that do not do so are eliminated during the La Niña years, whose frequency will increase with global climate change.
ISSN: 1631-0691

hal-00817397
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00817397
DOI : 10.1016/j.crvi.2009.10.007
PUBMED : 20176334

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience

Background. Projections of medical demography show a decrease of number of doctors who practice in a rural setting and a low amount of general practitioners’ facilities.

Aim. To explore residents’ career choices and to determine their terms to settle in rural areas.
Methods. Qualitative study by groups interviews in five French cities with total of 33 residents. Thematic analysis was performed using the NVivo® software.
Results. Personal life strongly influenced residents’ career choices with a strong desire of free time. Residents considered working among a team rather than in a traditional group practice. They were interested by a practice in rural setting but countryside perceived as too far from urban centres and lacking of access to services. They also imagined the practice conditions as difficult and solitary. Many residents intended practicing in a “semi-rural” setting, the description of which could match with a significant part of the rural area.
Conclusion. If this declared craze for practice in “semi-rural” setting was confirmed, forecasts for some rural areas could be relativized. Public authorities’ attention should then be focused on rural areas far from urban centres and on territories characterized by lonesome medical practice.

Contexte. Les projections en termes de démographie médicale montrent une diminution du nombre de médecins exerçant en zone rurale, avec un faible nombre d’installations.
Objectif. Explorer les souhaits d’exercice des internes et recueillir leurs conditions pour exercer en zone rurale.
Méthode. Étude qualitative par entretiens collectifs dans cinq villes de France auprès de 33 internes. L’analyse thématique a été réalisée à l’aide du logiciel NVivo®.
Résultats. La vie personnelle influençait fortement les souhaits d’exercice, avec un désir de préserver du temps libre. Les internes envisageaient un exercice en équipe, au-delà de l’exercice de groupe traditionnel. Ils étaient intéressés par l’exercice en milieu rural, mais le territoire rural leur apparaissait sans accès aux services et très éloigné des pôles urbains. Ils se représentaient également des conditions d’exercice difficiles et solitaires. De nombreux internes se projetaient dans un exercice en « semi-rural », dont la description pourrait correspondre à une partie non négligeable de l’espace rural.
Conclusion. Si cet engouement déclaré pour l’exercice en semi-rural venait à se confirmer, ces projections concernant certaines zones rurales pourraient être relativisées. L’attention des pouvoirs publics devrait alors se concentrer sur les zones rurales éloignées des pôles urbains et les territoires marqués par un exercice médical solitaire prédominant.

ISSN: 0998-3953

hal-01654623
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01654623
OKINA : ua16504

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
A geographic information system (GIS) was developed in Martinique, to perform soil zoning for the revival of the production of Coffea arabica var. typica.Pioneer in the cultivation of coffee in the Caribbean since 1720, today Martinique plays no role in the coffee industry. In addition, due to its rarity on the island, the edapho-climatic requirements of Coffea arabica had to be defined based on the world literature. The digital data (isohyets, isotherm, geomorphology) was obtained from Martinique’s institutions with expertise in the production of environmental data (IRD, IGN, Météo- France, DEAL Martinique, CTM)1. These data have been processed with a SIG software: QGIS version 2.8.1. During the investigations, the rainfall represented a factor limiting any possibility of production of Coffea arabica var. typica in the future. By removing the pluviometry from the set of parameters, we can visualize the areas that might be acceptable to this culture. With the forecast of the National Meteorological services for the 2071-2100 period under the new climate requirements, we carried out an agroclimatic zoning which also showed us the impossibility of producing this coffee in the future.
ISSN: 2277-8322

hal-01376447
https://hal.univ-antilles.fr/hal-01376447

Résumé : A partir de 1996 pour combattre une inflation galopante, Haïti a mis en place une politique de ciblage de la masse monétaire avec un objectif d’inflation. La forte inflation a pris naissance dans l’accumulation du déficit budgétaire et le financement monétaire de celui-ci par le seigneuriage. Cette pratique du financement par l’impôt inflationniste engendre donc un problème de crédibilité, en dépit de la double circulation monétaire caractérisée par un niveau élevé de dollarisation de l’économie qui a atteint 50% dès 2004. La politique monétaire mise en œuvre vise à éviter le biais inflationniste et différentes approches pour améliorer la crédibilité ont été considérées. La crise économique commencée en 2007 dans les pays développés, est née de l’instabilité des marchés financiers et a obligé la mise en place de politique monétaire non conventionnelle afin d’éviter la trappe de liquidité. Cette crise a donné lieu à une accumulation de réserves internationales et un faible taux d’intérêt dans les économies des pays émergents et les économies des pays sous-développés. Il devenait évident que le fondement théorique de la stratégie de politique monétaire demeure la recherche à la fois de la stabilité monétaire et la stabilité des marchés financiers afin de conserver la crédibilité et l’efficacité de la politique monétaire des banques centrales. L’utilisation abusive faite par la FED aux USA de l’assouplissement quantitatif, fait craindre une crise de la dette souveraine des Etats, la création de bulle spéculative, et un retour à la récession. Avec le cas d’Haïti, les anticipations ne sont pas rationnelles à cause des erreurs de prévisions. Une analyse jointe des taux des banques, en utilisant un modèle VECM, ne nous a pas permis de trouver un taux d’équilibre de long terme entre eux. Le test de Seo conclu que les chocs ont affecté la dynamique de ces taux. Les accords avec le FMI ont permis une très faible amélioration de l’efficacité de la politique monétaire avec l’accumulation de réserves dans la foulée de la crise qui a démarré en 2007.
Since 1996 in order to fight inflation, Haiti put in place a monetary policy targeting money supply with inflation target. Inflation high gets started from budget deficit accumulation and monetary financing by seigniorage. This practice of financing by inflationary taxes implies a problem of credibility of monetary policy even with a double monetary circulation and a dollarization of the economy reaching 50% since 2004. The monetary policy implementation aims to avoid inflation bias and different approaches for improving credibility has been considered. The economic crisis started in 2007 created by the instability of the financial markets, forced the establishment of non-conventional monetary policy to avoid the liquidity trap. This crisis has resulted in an accumulation of international reserves and low interest rate in emerging economies and the economies of underdeveloped countries. It became more and more evident that the theoretical basis of the monetary policy strategy remains looking for both, monetary stability and the stability of the financial markets, in order to maintain the credibility and efficiency of the monetary policy of central banks. The misuse made by the FED in the USA of quantitative easing, rise concerns about a crisis of sovereign debt of the Sates, the creation of speculative bubble, and a possible return to the recession. With the case of Haiti, the expectations are not rationales because of forecast errors. A joint analysis of banks interests’ rates using a VECM model has not enabled us to find a long run equilibrium rate between them. The Seo test concluded that chocks affect the dynamic of both rates. The agreements with the IMF allowed improving weakly the monetary policy efficiency with the accumulation of international reserves in the wake of the crisis which started in 2007.

http://www.theses.fr/2013AGUY0701/document

Éditeur(s) : [S.l.] : Longmans
Résumé : Les Anglais dans les Indes occidentales. Gravures
Siècle(s) traité(s) : 19
Droits : Domaine public
Provenance : Université des Antilles. Service commun de la documentation
Permalien : http://www.manioc.org/patrimon/HASH1f8a614646a92da7410ddd
HASH1f8a614646a92da7410ddd

Éditeur(s) : London : T. Fisher Unwin
Extrait de : The adventure series
Résumé : A new illustrated edition. Le traducteur Charles Johnson serait un pseudonyme, souvent attribué à Daniel Defoe, à tort d'après l'Oxford DNB (entrée : Johnson, Charles (fl. 1724-1734)).
Siècle(s) traité(s) : 16
Droits : Domaine public
Provenance : Archives territoriales de Guyane
Permalien : http://www.manioc.org/patrimon/GAD12006
GAD12006