The Réal Collobrier hydrological observatory in south-eastern France, managed by Irstea since 1966, constitutes a benchmark site for regional hydro-climatology. Because of the dense network of stream gauges and rain gauges available, this site provides a unique opportunity to evaluate long-term hydro-meteorological Mediterranean trends. The main catchment (70 km²) and its sub-catchments are located in the Massif des Maures of south-eastern France, close to the Mediterranean coast. The vegetation is composed of forest mainly calcified on crystalline soils (maquis of heath, cork-oak, maritime pine and chestnut). Direct human influence has been negligible over the past 50 years. The land use and land cover has remained almost unchanged, with the notable exception of a wildfire in 1990 that impacted a small sub-catchment. Therefore changes in the hydrological response of the catchments are caused by changes in climate and/or physical conditions. This study investigates changes in observational data using up to 50-year daily series of precipitation and streamflow. The analysis used several climate indices describing distinct modes of variability, at inter-annual and seasonal timescales. Trends were assessed by the Mann–Kendall method. The analysis also used hydrological indices describing drought events based on daily data for a description of low flows, in particular in terms of timing and severity. The analysis shows that there is a marked tendency towards a decrease in the water resources of the Réal Collobrier catchment in response to climate trends, with a consistent increase in drought severity and duration. But the changes are variable among the sub-catchments.

This study deals with the Rimbaud catchment, a sub-catchment within the Réal Collobrier hydrological observatory in southeastern France, managed by Irstea since 1966. This observatory suffered a wildfire in 1990. Because of the dense network of streamgauges and raingauges available, this site provides a unique opportunity to test and compare two types of analysis, one based on paired catchments and the other a rainfall–runoff model, used to assess the hydrological impact of forest fire. In the present case, more than 20 years of pre-fire and post-fire data are available. We compare the ability of the two approaches to detect gradual changes at a daily time step. This case study illustrates how natural climatic variability (here a long drought which preceded the wildfire) can make the identification of hydrological changes extremely difficult.

Une approche conceptuelle parcimonieuse a été développée pour la quantification et la gestion de la ressource en eau sur des territoires dépourvus d'information. La base de données Web LoiEau présentée dans cet article, constitue le résultat de l'application de cette méthode à l'exutoire de plus de 130 000 bassins versants non instrumentés sur le territoire national. L'approche régionale exploite une information hydrométéorologique récente et de bonne qualité la plus exhaustive possible (données climatiques de la réanalyse SAFRAN et données hydrologiques de la banque Hydro) et résulte d'avancées méthodologiques réalisées sur la détermination d'une structure bien optimisée d'un modèle hydrologique journalier adapté à une gamme de fonctionnements hydrologiques variés, contraint seulement par deux paramètres pour permettre sa régionalisation et son utilisation sur des bassins non jaugés. La base de données Web LoiEau fournit des chroniques hydrologiques simulées de 1958 à 2018 au pas de temps journalier, à partir desquelles de multiples indicateurs hydrologiques sont extraits, permettant de caractériser la ressource en eau dans son ensemble (étiage, saisonnalité, bilan). Cette base est diffusée pour les services de l'État via une interface Web. L'étude des incertitudes liées à l'échantillonnage des données observées a permis d'établir des intervalles de confiance pour chaque indicateur hydrologique. Un indice de confiance en la méthode est aussi proposé pour chaque bassin afin de qualifier le degré d'applicabilité des résultats dans le cas où les spécificités locales les rendent inappropriés. A parsimonious conceptual approach has been developed for the quantification and management of water resources in territories without information. The LoiEau Web database, presented in this article, is the result of applying this method to the outlet of more than 130 000 ungauged catchments over the French territory. The regional approach exploits recent and good quality hydro-meteorological information that is as exhaustive as possible (the SAFRAN reanalysis and the Hydro database) and is the result of methodological advances made in determining a well-optimized structure of a daily hydrological model adapted to a varied range of hydrological process, constrained by only two parameters to allow its regionalization and use on ungauged basins. The LoiEau Web database provides simulated hydrological data from 1958 to 2018 at daily time steps, from which multiple hydrological indicators are extracted to characterize water resources (low flow, seasonality, mean annual streamflow). This database is distributed via a Web interface. Uncertainties were calculated by resampling of the observed data and allowed to calculate confidence intervals for each hydrological index on each catchment. A confidence index in the method is also proposed for each catchment in order to qualify the degree of applicability of results in the event that local specificities make them inappropriate.

La méthode SHYREG a été développée pour la connaissance régionale des quantiles de débits de crue (débit de pointe et lames d'eau maximales écoulées sur les durées de 1 h à 72 h) pour les périodes de retour de 2 à 100 ans suivant une approche spatialisée. Elle associe un simulateur de pluies horaires et une modélisation simple pluie-débit, mis en oeuvre à une résolution kilométrique. Les quantiles de débits se déduisent directement des distributions de fréquence empiriques des valeurs maximales extraites des très longues chroniques de débit simulées. On obtient alors une base de quantiles de crues que l'on peut agréger à l'échelle de n'importe quel bassin versant, moyennant une règle d'abattement avec la surface. La régionalisation de la méthode a été réalisée sur la France métropolitaine, à l'exclusion de la Corse, en exploitant les données hydrométriques de 1 359 stations de jaugeage et des caractéristiques hydro-climatiques et hydrogéologiques spatialisées permettant de décrire la variabilité du paramètre saisonnier du modèle. Au final, cette régionalisation permet la connaissance des quantiles de débits de crue en tout bassin versant de la France métropolitaine avec une bonne restitution des quantiles de débit de pointe et journalier, pour les périodes de retour comprises entre 2 et 10 ans : un critère de Nash minimum de 80 % est obtenu sur les quantiles de débit de pointe pseudo-spécifique et de débit journalier spécifique des bassins versants non utilisés pour la régionalisation.

The Real Collobrier hydrological observatory in southeastern France close to the Mediterranean coast, managed by Irstea since 1966, constitutes a benchmark site for regional hydro-climatology. Because of the dense network of stream gauges and raingauges available, this site provides a unique opportunity to evaluate long term hydro-meteorological Mediterranean trends. The vegetation is composed of forest mainly calcified on crystalline soils (maquis of heath, cork-oak, maritime pine and chestnut). Direct human influence has been negligible over the past 50 years. The land use/land cover has remained almost unchanged, with the notable exception of a wildfire in 1990 that impacted a small sub-catchment. Therefore changes in the hydrological response of the catchments are caused by changes in climate and/or physical conditions. This study investigates changes in observational data using up to 50-year daily series of precipitation and streamflow. The analysis used several climate indices describing distinct modes of variability, at inter-annual and seasonal time scales. Trends were assessed by the Mann-Kendall test. The analysis also used hydrological indices describing drought events based on daily data for a description of low flows, in particular in terms of timing and severity. The analysis shows that there is a marked tendency towards a decrease in the water resources of the Real Collobrier catchment in response to climate trends, with a increase in drought severity and duration. But the changes are variable among the sub-catchments according to their own hydrological functioning.

Low water levels are a seasonal phenomenon, which can be long, short, and more or less intense, affecting entire watercourses. This phenomenon has become a concern for many countries who seek better understanding of the processes that affect it and learn how to optimally manage water resources (pumping, irrigation). Consequently, a lumped rainfall model at daily time step (GR) has been defined, calibrated, and regionalised over French territories. The input data come from SAFRAN, the distributed mesoscale atmospheric analysis system, which provides daily solid and liquid precipitation and temperature data throughout the French territory. This model could be improved, in particular to more accurately simulate the hydrological response of watersheds interacting with groundwater. The idea is to use piezometric data from the ADES bank, available in France, and to use it for the calibration phase of the hydrological model. The analysis was carried out across ten French catchments that are representative of various hydrometeorological behaviours and are located in a diverse hydrogeological context. Each catchment must be represented by a piezometer that closely represents the main aquifer that interacts with the basin. This piezometer is located on part of the watershed that is most covered in terms of its drainage network, and closest to its outlet. Different signal processing methods are used to characterise the relationship between the fluctuation of river flow, piezometric levels and rainfall time series. Potential processing methods will be carried out in the temporal domain. To quantify groundwater table inertia and that of the catchment area, correlograms were calculated from daily chronicles of flows and piezometric levels. A cross-correlatory analysis was set up to see, in more detail, the correlations between the flow rates (especially base flows) and piezometric level time series. This type of analysis makes it possible to study relationships between various observations, and tests were carried out to take this information into account during the phase of the calibration of hydrological model parameters. These different analyses will hopefully help us to use piezometric data to consolidate the quality and robustness of the modelling.