The OZCAR RI annual meeting were held at the Balcons du Lac d’Annecy (Sévrier), from March 18 to 20, 2019. They gathered nearly 80 participants.

The topic of the days : cryosphere

The days allowed the invitations of two “Grand Témoins”: Samuel Morin, from the Centre de l’Etude et de la Neige (CEN), who presented the international initiatives in the cryosphere. Paolo Laj and Isabelle Domaizon presented the state of the art of the ACTRIS research infrastructure (https://www.actris.fr/) and the Regional Alpine Lakes Observatory OLA based in Annecy (https://www6.inra.fr/soere-ola)

These days were organised around 5 key moments:

• A review of the activities carried out in the IR OZCAR over the past year and workshops around the WP2 Data-Model Interface and the WP3 Instrumentation;
  The launch of the WP4 Transversal themes with the presentation and discussion of the proposals received in response to the call for ideas launched before the days;
• A scientific focus on the cryosphere including presentations in the room and a field visit of the Col de Porte facilities;
• An opening towards other devices close to the IR OZCAR: the Research Infrastructure ACTRIS (Aerosol, Clouds and Trace Gases) and the Alpine Lakes Observatory (OLA) with the presentation of these two structures;
• The awarding of the first OZCAR Award which rewarded two emblematic publications of the critical zone carried by Clément Duvert and Bastien Wild.

Main points to remember

The OZCAR RI is increasingly visible in the national and international landscape, including through its integration into the European RI eLTER in 2018, the participation in the establishment of a call for tender of the Belmont Forum on the theme “Sustainability of soil and groundwater”. At the national level, the OZCAR community has been strongly mobilized on the proposal of transversal themes, with a very favorable response to this call. The beginning of several of these themes is likely to stimulate exchanges within the community.

Other transversal actions contribute to these collaborations within the IR OZCAR :

The work done to build the common information system Theia/OZCAR that will expose on a single data portal the data collected in the observatories of the IR OZCAR.
The recruitment of two post-doctoral fellows who create a dynamic in the community. The work of Sylvain Pasquet, who has been implementing the CRITEX instruments since 2018 on different observatories, is a good example and that of Sylvain Kuppel who started his post-doctorate in May 2019 in critical zone modeling should create a similar dynamic around modeling and progress towards a common vision on critical zone representation.
As we have observed in previous OZCAR IR meetings, colleagues have enjoyed meeting for field trips allowing for informal and friendly discussions, contributing to the development and success of cross-cutting and collaborative work.

In addition, the integration into eLTER-RI, whose French mirror is eLTER France, including the OZCAR IRs and Zones Ateliers (RZA), will foster new exchanges to harmonize site monitoring and protocols and the emergence of synergies to address critical ecosystem zone science.

Focus on the Cryosphere

The cryosphere was the focus of the OZCAR days in Annecy with three presentations covering complementary aspects of the work done on the cryosphere:

• Samuel Morin (CEN Director) presented an overview of international initiatives on the cryosphere, with a historical perspective on the formation of an independent community and its links to the climate community. These communities are active in cryospheric data banking, standardization of a common vocabulary and shared protocols;

• Antoine Rabatel presented how remote sensing is used by the cryosphere community to document and spatialize different information that remains fragmented when it comes only from in situ data. The different sensors available allow mapping snow cover, snow depth, some physical properties of snow, rock glacier (permafrost) flows, and for glaciers, remote sensing allows mapping variations in volume, snow line, albedo and glacier flow;

• Thomas Condom illustrated the work on the cryospheric critical zone and the consequences of glacier changes on water resources through two examples: one in the Arve valley where a project has allowed a better documentation of precipitation, the characterization of flows of more or less glaciated sub-basins and the development of a hydrological model of the Arve basin. The other case study concerns Ecuador, with the Antisana glacier, whose watershed supplies drinking water to the city of Quito. Here again, a hydrological model was set up and evaluated using available data to study different scenarios for the evolution of water resources.
  

Visit of a CRYOBS-CLIM/OZCAR observatory
The field trip to the Col de Porte provided an opportunity to discover the instrumental park of Météo-France, which has been providing detailed information on snow cover for over 60 years, and to visit the study site on the impact of vegetation on snow cover (SNOUF project: Snow under Forest). These visits were complemented by a presentation of the work on avalanches and the database managed by INRAE, illustrated by the avalanche corridor of Chamechaude as well as by presentations in the room on snow and glacier measurements and a project aimed at predicting flooding of the Arve.

Antoine Rabatel presented how remote sensing is used by the cryosphere community to document and spatialize different information that remains fragmented when it comes only from in situ data. The different sensors available allow mapping snow cover, snow depth, some physical properties of snow, rock glacier (permafrost) flows, and for glaciers, remote sensing allows mapping variations in volume, snow line, albedo and glacier flow.

The OZCAR Award 2019

The first OZCAR prize was awarded to two emblematic publications of the critical zone carried by Clément Duvert and Bastien Wild.

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