Alpine scenario:

La Fouly

Susana Fernandez VidalEPFL - EFLUM

Rationales and Goals of the monitoring1. Generation and acquisition of data which describes hazardous scenarios in the Swiss Alps

2. Studying and analyzing environmental processes that might trigger hazardous scenarios, such as floods, debris-flows and landslides

3. Assessing the impact of spatial variability related to meteorological and soil characteristics, on catchment hydrology

4. Characterizing the soil more in detail to improve soil moisture modeling

5. Hydrograph separation: snow and ice melt, rainfall-runoff, groundwater drainage

6. Improve hydrological modeling using a 3D-physically based model

7. Study of the slope winds

La Fouly Catchment area = 20 Km2

Zmin = 1785 m , Zmax = 3238 m

Gd ST-BernardItaly N

LAYOUT OF THE STATIONS 2010

16 SENSORSCOPE STATIONSMaster station

Master station

MAXBOTIX: Water levelhttp://sensorscope.epfl.ch/climaps/

EACH STATION MEASURES:

• ACCUMULATED RAIN• WIND SPEED & WIND DIRECTION• INCOMING SHORTWAVE RADIATION• SKIN TEMPERATURE• AIR TEMPERATURE• RELATIVE HUMIDITY• SOIL MOISTURE • SOIL TEMPERATURE• SOIL SUCTION

Water level :• Pressure transducer• Maxbotix (ultrasound)

WATER LEVEL & DISCHARGE

Discharge measurements: •Salt dilution method (Sommer)

STAGE-DISCHARGE RELATION

~ 1 km

~ 10 m

Surface energy balance

Profiles of turbulent fluxes

Atmospheric profiles

Sensorscope stations

Slope Winds at La Fouly

ISOTOPE APPLICATIONS IN CATCHMENT HYDROLOGY

• To answer to questions like: - Where water goes when it rains? - What pathways it takes to the stream? - How long water resides in the catchment?

• Isotope information may be used to calibrate and test distributed rainfall-runoff models (GEOtop, ALpine3D)

STABLE ISOTOPE ANALYSER(CAVITY RING DOWN)FOR 18O/16O & 2H/1H

Some results of La Fouly 2009

Discharge components:Stream Hydrograph separation

Samples

-River-Snow melt-Snow/ice from the glacier-Streams-Springs-Rain-Soil

Catchment area = 20 Km2

Zmin = 1785 m , Zmax = 3238 m

Baseflow : The glacier

La Fouly – field campaign 2009Soil Data (18th June – 29th October)

-20 cm-40 cm-60 cm

-60 cm-20 cm

1036

20 cm

20 cm

20 cm

Slope Winds at La Fouly

Slope Winds at La Fouly

Dayslo

pe w

inds

valley winds

Night

Katabatic Winds Anabatic Winds