Research, teaching and other activities

Louvain-La-Neuve


 

Research topics

What are the impact and feedback mechanisms of human activities on land degradation?

We aim to better understand the role of human activities  on the sediment cycle in mountainous regions. Using new geochemical methods such as in-situ produced cosmosgenic nuclides, we are able to quantify natural erosion benchmarks. These measures allow us to quantify the human impact on sediment fluxes .  Furthermore, we are highly interested in the link between land use and degradation. For various pathways of land use change, we are working on specific hypotheses that allow us to better understand the causes and consequences of degradation.

Can we predict geological denudation rates from landscape morphology?

Topographic variables are often used as surrogates for inferring landscape processes. Relief evolution in threshold landscapes is strongly dependent on the fluvial network that sets the local base level for hillslope processes. In contrast to the slopes, the fluvial network is directly coupled to the basin outlet.  At the moment, the extent to which basin-wide denudation rates can directly be inferred from slope and channel morphology is still difficult to evaluate. 

We are focusing on two regions that are representative for two completely different tectonic domains: the Ardennes-Rhenish Massif (Belgium), and the Northern Andes (Ecuador). We specifically analyse spatial patterns in erosion and river incision rates in relation to regional tectonic differentiation patterns.


Research projects

Erosion, Sediment Transport and Watershed Management in the Nile Basin (UNESCO Fust FriendNile project)

Strengthening the scientific and technological capacities to implement spatially integrated land and water management schemes adapted to local socio-economic and physical settings (CUD PIC project)

Human impact on soil erosion (Southern Spain, Nicolas Bellin)

Effects of land cover change and land abandonment on sediment yield in semiarid Mediterranean catchments using remote sensing, gis and field techniques (EU Marie Curie, SEDIMED, Raul Ortega

 

Remote sensing of the forest transition and its ecosystem impacts in mountain environments (BelSpo StereoII, Fomo, Vincent Balthazar)

 

Sediment dynamics in tropical mountain regions: influence of climatic and anthropogenic disturbances on erosion and sediment transfer (Marie Guns)

 

Erosion, tectonics and morphometry in the Ardennes Massif (Nicolas Sougnez)

Teaching 

Academic Year 2011-2012
LCLIM 2170   Terrain I en climatologie  
LGEO 1331   Geomorphology  
LGEO 1382   Field Excursion  
LGEO 2140   Advanced physical geography  
LGEO 2240   Tectonic geomorphology  
         
       

[2]     "Crédit superordinateur FNRS" (20 hours of CPU time on the ULB-VUB CRAY-XMP, 1990–1991, in collaboration with J.-P. van Ypersele).

[3]     Variability of the glacial and interglacial climates and abrupt climatic changes (contract ENV4-CT95-0131, Climate and Environment Programme, European Commission, budget : ~171,000 EUR, 1996–1997).

[4]     Modelling the climate and its evolution at the global scale - CLIMOD (Contract CG/DD/09A, First Scientific Support Plan for a Sustainable Development Policy, Belgian Federal Office for Scientific, Technical and Cultural Affairs, Prime Minister’s Services, budget : ~377,000 EUR, 1996–2001). Within this project, I have coordinated a network of 4 Belgian research teams (total budget : ~1,244,000 EUR).

[5]     Influence of the air–sea–ice interactions in the polar regions on the global climate : A study with a new coupled atmosphere–ocean general circulation model (contract ERBFMBICT972359, Programme for Training and Mobility of Researchers, European Commission, budget : ~178,000 EUR, 1998–2000).

[6]     Climate variability : How unusual is the Holocene? (contract ENV4-CT97-0643, Climate and Environment Programme, European Commission, budget : ~192,000 EUR, 1998–2000).

[7]     Modelling the climate and its evolution at the global and regional scales (Special Project SPBECL, European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasts, Reading, CPU time on the FUJITSU, 1998–2003, in collaboration with J.-P. van Ypersele).

[8]     "Financement des Fonds Spéciaux de Recherche (FSR) de l’UCL destiné à l’accueil d’un chercheur postdoctoral étranger à  ASTR" (1999).

[9]     Optimisation of a model of the coupled ocean–sea-ice system (Group Mission MERCATOR, CERFACS–CNES–CNRS/INSU–IFREMER–IRD–Météo-France–SHOM, budget : ~7000 EUR, 2000–2001).

[10]  Modelling the evolution of climate and sea level over the third millennium - MILMO (contract EV/10/9A, Second Scientific Support Plan for a Sustainable Development Policy, Belgian Federal Office for Scientific, Technical and Cultural Affairs, Prime Minister’s Services, budget : ~327,000 EUR, 2000–2005). Within this project, I have coordinated a network of 3 Belgian research teams (total budget : ~972,000 EUR).

[11]   Modelling the climate with LMDZ : Application to regional studies (International Scientific Cooperation Programme, French National Centre for Scientific Research and Belgian FNRS, budget : ~31,000 EUR, 2000–2003, in collaboration with H. Le Treut).

[12]  Programme for integrated Earth system modelling - PRISM : An infrastructure project for climate research in Europe (contract EVR1-CT-2001-40012, Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development Programme, European Commission, budget : ~47,000 EUR, 2001–2004).

[13]  Sea ice : Observations and high-resolution modelling (Group Mission MERCATOR, CERFACS–CNES–CNRS/INSU–IFREMER–IRD–Météo-France–SHOM, budget : ~12,000 EUR, 2001–2003).

[14]  Contribution of the assimilation of satellite data to sea-ice modelling (FSR, budget : ~45,000 EUR, 2002–2004, in collaboration with E. Deleersnijder).

[15]  Models and observations to test climate feedbacks - MOTIF (Fifth Framework Programme, Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development Programme, European Commission, budget : ~104,000 EUR, 2003–2005).

[16]  Climate Change and Cryosphere - C3 (ACI-FNS French National Programme on Natural Risk and Climate Change, budget : ~24,000 EUR, 2003–2005, in collaboration with H. Goosse and J.-P. van Ypersele).

[17]  Ensemble-based predictions of climate changes and their impacts - ENSEMBLES (contract 505539, Sixth Framework Programme, Global Change and Ecosystems Programme, European Commission, budget : ~75,000 EUR, 2004–2009).

[18]  A second-generation model of the ocean system - SLIM (Concerted Research Actions, French Community of Belgium, budget : ~725,000 EUR, 2004–2009, in collaboration with E. Deleersnjider, V. Legat and J.-F. Remacle).

[19]  Contributing as Lead Author to Chapter 8 of the IPCC Working Group 1 Fourth Assessment Report (contract IO/10/004, Belgian Science Policy Office, budget : ~35,000 EUR, 2004–2007).

[20]  Assessment of modelling uncertainties in long-term climate and sea level change projections - ASTER : Phase 1 (contract SD/CS/01A, Programme on Science for a Sustainable Development, Belgian Science Policy Office, budget : ~200,000 EUR, 2006–2008). Within this project, I have coordinated a network of 3 Belgian research teams (total budget : ~534,000 EUR).

[21]  "Financement des FSR de l’UCL destiné à l’accueil d’un chercheur postdoctoral étranger à  ASTR" (2006, in collaboration with A. Berger et H. Goosse).

[22]  Sea-ice biogeochemistry in polar oceans : Implications on fluxes of climatically significant gases and for climate changes of natural or anthropogenic origin - A contribution to the International Polar Year (Fund for Collective Fundamental Research, FNRS, budget : ~5000 EUR, 2007-2009, in collaboration with A. Borges, L. Chou, C. Lancelot and J.-L. Tison).

[23]  Network for ice sheet and climate evolution - NICE (contract MRTN-CT-2006-036127, Human Resources and Mobility Activity, Marie Curie Actions, Marie Curie Research Training Networks, European Commission, budget : ~282,000 EUR, 2007–2010).

[24]  "Analyse comparée des forçages externes et des rétroactions internes au système climatique lors de trois périodes chaudes observées dans l’Arctique au cours des 10.000 dernières années" (Fund for Collective Fundamental Research, FNRS, budget : ~10,000 EUR, 2008, in collaboration with M. Crucifix and H. Goosse).

[25]  Assessment of modelling uncertainties in long-term climate and sea level change projections - ASTER : Phase 2 (contract SD/CS/01B, Programme on Science for a Sustainable Development, Belgian Science Policy Office, budget : ~263,000 EUR, 2008–2010). Within this project, I have coordinated a network of 3 Belgian research teams (total budget : ~620,000 EUR).

[26]  "Financement des FSR de l’UCL destiné à l’accueil d’un chercheur postdoctoral étranger à  ASTR" (2009, in collaboration with E. Lambin).

[27]  Comprehensive modelling of the Earth system for better climate prediction and projection - COMBINE (grant agreement 226520, Seventh Framework Programme, Theme 6 : Environment, European Commission, budget : ~310,000 EUR, 2009-2013).

[28]  Taking up the challenges of multi-scale marine modelling (Concerted Research Actions, French Community of Belgium, budget : ~500,000 EUR, 2010–2015, in collaboration with E. Deleersnjider, E. Hanert, V. Legat, J.-F. Remacle and S. Soares Frazao).

Total budget : ~3,940,000 EUR.

Earth & Climate

Sciences and Technology

ELIC

Mercator
Place Louis Pasteur 3, mailbox L4.03.08,
1348, Louvain-la-Neuve