On 1 March 2024, the project coordinators and team launched the research work for PC2 - Anticipation, dedicated to past estimates of water resources in France and their forecasting on a seasonal scale for better adaptation. This 7-year research project (2024-2031) will mainly contribute to the eponymous Challenge 1: Anticipating changes in water resources. The aim is to have a better understanding of the variability of water resources and the conditions under which intense phenomena occur, in order to anticipate risk situations. The three main actions targeted are: the development of a national network of lysimeters, the improvement of historical meteorological reanalyses, and the development of the two existing seasonal hydrogeological forecasting platforms dedicated to low-water flows in rivers and groundwater. Reconstructions going back more than a century will help to better characterize current extreme events and improve the relevance of seasonal resource forecasting tools.
Florence Habets, CNRS research director affiliated to the ENS Geology Laboratory, Simon Munier, sustainable development research officer at CNRM - Météo France, and Thierry Pellarin, CNRS research director affiliated to the Grenoble Institute of Environmental Geosciences, are coordinating this project.