Study Area - Response of Flood Events to Land Use and Climate Change - page 100

Fig. 4.1 Location of case study (Barcelonnette area) Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, France

The Ubaye Valley is representative of climatic, lithological, geomorphological,
and land use conditions observed in the South French Alps [ 1 ]. The study area is
located in the dry intra-Alpine zone, characterized by a mountainous Mediterra-
nean climate with a high interannual rainfall variability (400-735 mm over the
period of 1928-2005), a mean annual temperature of a ca. 7.5, and the presence of
a snow pack on the upper slopes for 4-6 months out of the year. Local summer
rainstorms can be intense, sometimes yielding more than 40 mm.h -1

[ 2 ].

4.3 Geographical Characteristics of the Ubaye River
in the Whole Watershed

According to the data bank from 1903 to 1990, Parde [ 3 ] described the Ubaye
River as a fifth-order tributary of the middle Durance for the whole catchment. He
mentioned that it is a steep river (13 %) with a mean annual discharge of 10.1
(m 3 .s -1 ) (Table 4.1 ).