Study Area - Response of Flood Events to Land Use and Climate Change - page 119

4.9 Chapter Summary
In this chapter, the main attempt was to introduce the hydro-climatological and
environmental characteristics of the study area. The Barcelonnette Basin is affected
by a Mediterranean marine influence and moderated by a mild continental mountain
climate. During 1961-2009, the cumulative annual precipitation was 1781.6 mm.
The analysis of average monthly precipitation between 1961 and 2009 shows that
the maximum rainfall occurred in spring and autumn, and the maximum peak
happened in May, June, September, October, and November. Based on the observed
data at the Barcelonnette station from 1961 to 2009, the maximum temperature
(29.37 C) was recorded in August 2003 and the minimum temperature (-13.59 C)
occurred in January 1981. The maximum temperature occurred between May and
September. During the same period, a monthly investigation in discharge shows that
the lowest discharge happened from December to March, while the maximum
amount of water occurred from April to July, perhaps as a concentrated effect of
rainfall and snowmelt together. The results of analysis show that the maximum
discharge occurred in May 2008. At that time, the amount of precipitation was
156 mm and the maximum temperature was 22.9 C.
In general, the Ubaye Valley represents climatic, lithological, geomorphologic,
and land use conditions observed in the South French Alps, and is highly affected by
flood hazards. The Barcelonnette area is a tourist center with many ski lodges. The
whole Barcelonnette Basin is known for its numerous slope (the slope gradients
range from 10 to 20) instabilities and other geomorphological hazards, and the
very active flood hazard in this basin directly and indirectly affects land use.
The next chapter provides available data and sources of the data, as well as
other information which was applied in this research.
References
1. Flageollet JC, Maquaire O, Martin B, Weber D (1999) Landslides and climatic conditions in
the Barcelonnette and Vars basins (Southern French Alps, France). Geomorphology 30:65-78
2. Remaitre A, Malet JP (2010) The effectiveness of torrent check dams to control channel
instability: example of debris-flow events in clay shales. In: Garcia CC, Lenzi MA (eds)
Check dams, morphological adjustments and erosion control in torrential streams. Nova
Science Publishers, New York, pp 211-237
3. Parde M (1925) Le regime du Rhine, etude hydrologique. Institut des Etudes Rhodaniennes,
Lyon(In French), pp 883 and 440
4. Piegay H, Salvador P-G (1997) Contemporary floodplain forest evolution along the middle
Ubaye River. South Alps Fr Global Ecol Biogeography Lett 6:397-406
5. Piegay H (1995) Dynamiques et gestion de la ripisylve de cinq cours d'eau a charge grossiere
du bassin du Rh6ne (I'Ain, I'Ardeche, le Giffre, l'Ouveze et l'Ubaye), XIXeme- XXeme
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6. Weber d (1994) Research into earth movements in the barcelonnette basin.In: Casale R,
fantechi R, Flageollet JC (eds) Temporal occurrence and forecasting of landslides in the