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Field trip to Everest region, November 2020

Published on November 13, 2020

Like every fall since 2007, the French-Nepali joint expedition is about to depart for the Everest region to survey the mass balance of three glaciers. This field campaign is a joint project between French partners (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement/Institut des Géosciences de l’Environnement) and Nepali partners (Tribhuvan University/International Center for Integrated Mountain Development). Within four weeks, the team will trek to the glaciers and do the annual measurements of (...)

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How much will polar ice sheets add to sea level rise ?

Published on September 18, 2020

Over 99% of terrestrial ice is bound up in the ice sheets covering Antarctic and Greenland. Even partial melting of this ice due to climate change will significantly contribute to sea level rise. But how much exactly ? For the first time ever, glaciologists, oceanographers, and climatologists from 13 countries have teamed up to make new projections. Their modelling efforts, involving CNRS and CEA researchers, show that the Antarctic Ice Sheet may account for up to 30 cm of sea level rise (...)

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Interpret historical, botanical and geological witnesses to help adapt to future floods

Published on March 27, 2019

Floods and river floods are among the most destructive natural disasters, resulting in many loss of life, infrastructure damage and economic hardship. Companies are now increasingly threatened by such floods, mainly because of the increasing exposure of goods and people in risk areas, but also because climate change is expected to change the magnitude, frequency and seasonality of floods. An accurate assessment of the flood hazard is therefore crucial for the sustainable development of (...)

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Seismic survey of a devastating flood caused by the sudden draining of a glacial lake

Published on November 09, 2018

An international team, involving French researchers from the Institute of Environmental Geosciences (IGE / OSUG, University Grenoble Alpes / IRD / CNRS / Grenoble INP), studied a particularly devastating flood event, caused by the sudden draining of a pro-glacial lake in the Bhotekoshi / Sunkoshi Valley, Nepal. Based on a particularly innovative observation technique based on the seismic analysis of soil vibrations, the authors bring unprecedented observational constraints on the physics of (...)

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