Palynology, the study of organic microfossils, is an important tool for improving our understanding of past environments and landscapes. Palynology provides a wealth of information from which climatic and environmental conditions can be inferred. However, inferred climatic and environmental conditions are often open to interpretation. Assumptions made about past climate conditions from pollen assemblages often rely on qualitative understanding of modern-day vegetation distributions, rather than empirical relationships. Historic anthropogenic impact on the environment must also be inferred, and assessments made as to whether vegetation changes are a result of climate change or human impact. This study seeks to address some of the questions that arise through the interpretation of pollen assemblages, by establishing empirical relationships between the geochemistry of modern pollen and climate or environmental controls. It focuses on the pollen of the climatically sensitive montane conifer Cedrus atlantica, which is distributed across the mountains of Morocco and Algeria. The study investigates aspects of modern pollen geochemistry and morphology and finds a strong relationship between the stable carbon isotope composition of modern pollen and mean annual precipitation (r2 = 0.54, p <0.001) and summer precipitation (r2 = 0.63, p <0.0001). Furthermore, a stronger relationship exists with aridity measured using the self-calibrating Palmer Drought Severity Index (r2 = 0.86, p <0.0001), suggesting that the stable carbon isotope composition of Cedrus atlantica pollen is influenced by environmental moisture availability. The study also finds there is an increased abundance of ultraviolet absorbing compounds (UACs) in modern Cedrus atlantica pollen with increasing summer UV-B flux. This relationship was evident with samples growing in their native range (r2 = 0.84, p <0.0001), but not with samples from outside this range (r2 = 0.00, p = 0.99), suggesting a possible genetic influence. Lastly, the study finds that grain size of Cedrus atlantica pollen is highly variable within and between samples, and we rule out climatic control on pollen grain size. These results suggest that quantitative relationships can be established between the geochemistry of Cedrus atlantica pollen and environmental and climatic influences. Stable carbon isotope analysis of fossil pollen could be used as a proxy for reconstruction of summer moisture availability, while analysis of UACs in fossil pollen could be used as a proxy for the reconstruction of summer UV-B flux. These proxies will enhance our understanding of climatic and environmental change in Northwest Africa and will complement existing palynological techniques for environmental and climate reconstruction. Palynology, the study of organic microfossils, is an important tool for improving our understanding of past environments and landscapes. Palynology provides a wealth of information from which climatic and environmental conditions can be inferred. However, inferred climatic and environmental conditions are often open to interpretation. Assumptions made about past climate conditions from pollen assemblages often rely on qualitative understanding of modern-day vegetation distributions, rather than empirical relationships. Historic anthropogenic impact on the environment must also be inferred, and assessments made as to whether vegetation changes are a result of climate change or human impact. This study seeks to address some of the questions that arise through the interpretation of pollen assemblages, by establishing empirical relationships between the geochemistry of modern pollen and climate or environmental controls. It focuses on the pollen of the climatically sensitive montane conifer Cedrus atlantica, which is distributed across the mountains of Morocco and Algeria. The study investigates aspects of modern pollen geochemistry and morphology and finds a strong relationship between the stable carbon isotope composition of modern pollen and mean annual precipitation (r2 = 0.54, p <0.001) and summer precipitation (r2 = 0.63, p <0.0001). Furthermore, a stronger relationship exists with aridity measured using the self-calibrating Palmer Drought Severity Index (r2 = 0.86, p <0.0001), suggesting that the stable carbon isotope composition of Cedrus atlantica pollen is influenced by environmental moisture availability. The study also finds there is an increased abundance of ultraviolet absorbing compounds (UACs) in modern Cedrus atlantica pollen with increasing summer UV-B flux. This relationship was evident with samples growing in their native range (r2 = 0.84, p <0.0001), but not with samples from outside this range (r2 = 0.00, p = 0.99), suggesting a possible genetic influence. Lastly, the study finds that grain size of Cedrus atlantica pollen is highly variable within and between samples, and we rule out climatic control on pollen grain size. These results suggest that quantitative relationships can be established between the geochemistry of Cedrus atlantica pollen and environmental and climatic influences. Stable carbon isotope analysis of fossil pollen could be used as a proxy for reconstruction of summer moisture availability, while analysis of UACs in fossil pollen could be used as a proxy for the reconstruction of summer UV-B flux. These proxies will enhance our understanding of climatic and environmental change in Northwest Africa and will complement existing palynological techniques for environmental and climate reconstruction.

La connaissance du microclimat et de l’évapotranspiration ou flux de chaleur latente qui représente la consommation réelle en eau de la culture à l’échelle des parcelles agricoles est une donnée importante pour comprendre le développement des cultures. La plupart des modèles permettant d’estimer l’évapotranspiration sont utilisés sur des surfaces homogènes sans tenir compte des interactions surface - atmosphère et de la variabilité spatiale du domaine agricole. Nous avons utilisé un modèle de couche limite atmosphérique afin de prendre en compte ces interactions. Une approche dite « patchée » permet d’introduire la variabilité spatiale des surfaces dans le modèle à partir des diverses proportions et des caractéristiques des principaux couverts végétaux qui composent le paysage. Une méthode d’assimilation variationnelle a été implémentée afin d’estimer certains paramètres du modèle difficile à connaître précisément. La méthode est basée sur le calcul de l’adjoint du modèle et utilise une température de surface observée par télédétection. L’approche développée est comparée à des approches plus simples considérant chaque type de surface indépendamment, mettant en évidence le rôle de la prise en compte de la variabilité spatiale de la surface sur la simulation du microclimat et des flux de surface / Knowledge of climate at regional scale and evapotranspiration (or latent heat flux which represents the actual water consumption of culture) is a key to understand the development of crops. Most of the methods aiming at estimating evapotranspiration assume homogeneous or decoupled atmospheric variables over the modelling domain without accounting for the feedback between surface and atmosphere. In order to analyse such dependencies and to predict microclimate and land surface fluxes we have developed a coupled atmospheric boundary layer - land surface model which accounts for the landscape heterogeneity using a tiled approach. We have implemented appropriate procedures (variational data assimilation) for assimilating remote sensing data into the model allowing to retrieve some input parameters difficult to estimate spatially (soil moisture and aerodynamic roughness). The developed method is compared to classical approaches considering each type of surface independently. Results are discussed in this paper

As sementes de Myrciaria dubia apresentam curta longevidade e demandam a ampliação do conhecimento sobre fatores interferentes na sua conservação. Diante disso, o presente trabalho objetivou verificar as influências do grau de umidade e da temperatura do ambiente na manutenção da qualidade dessas sementes. Para tanto, sementes com 48, 43, 40, 34, 30, 24, 18 e 14% de água, acondicionadas em sacos de polietileno, foram armazenadas sob temperaturas controladas de 10ºC, 20ºC e 30ºC, durante 280 dias, e submetidas, periodicamente, a avaliações do grau de umidade, da germinação, do vigor e da sanidade. Foi constatado que as sementes têm a conservação favorecida pela associação do grau de umidade de 43% com a temperatura de armazenamento de 10°C; sob essa condição, a incidência de Fusarium sp. não prejudica o desempenho fisiológico das sementes. / Seeds of Myrciaria dubia have a short lifespan and increased knowledge of the factors that interfere with their conservation is required. The aim of this study was to verify influences of moisture content and storage temperature on the maintenance of seed quality. Seeds with 48, 43, 40, 34, 30, 24, 18 and 14% water were kept in polyethylene bags at 10ºC, 20ºC and 30ºC for 280 days, and submitted to periodic evaluations of moisture content, germination, vigour and sanity. Seed conservation was favored by the 43% water and 10°C storage temperature association. In this condition, the incidence of Fusarium sp. does not hamper the seed physiological performance.

Ce travail de thèse propose une méthodologie d’instrumentation reposant sur plusieurs outils hydrologiques, géophysiques et géochimiques afin de quantifier l’apport nival dans les débits du Lignon. Cette instrumentation consiste en un suivi des échanges aux différents compartiments/interfaces hydrologiques que forment l’atmosphère, la neige, le sol et les cours d’eau au cours des saisons. La neige, et surtout l’équivalent en eau liquide qu’elle représente, est fondamentale pour la compréhension du fonctionnement des sources du Lignon, situées à l’aval direct d’une congère de grand volume. Ce volume d’eau est stocké durant la saison froide pour être restitué lors de la fonte printanière. Cette restitution est loin d’être homogène dans le Haut Lignon, en raison de la forte variabilité spatio-temporelle des paramètres qui la pilotent.L’infiltration de l’eau alors produite est une étape clef dans le comportement hydrologique du Lignon au printemps. La structure du sol à proximité des sources explique également la forte dépendance des sources du Lignon par rapport aux précipitations neigeuses. Cette dépendance est particulièrement visible lors de la fonte de la neige, qui modifie à très court terme les débits aux sources. Cette relation neige-pluie-débit met en évidence une alimentation superficielle pluvio-neigeuse prépondérante par rapport aux débits issus d’eau plus profonde, mais variable au cours de l’année.La méthode d’instrumentation employée, adaptée à l’hydrologie locale employée, permet de corroborer les résultats obtenus avec une précision appréciable, tout en ouvrant de nouvelles perspectives d’application à d’autres bassins versants d’altitude. / This work proposes a methodology for an instrumentation based on several hydrological, geophysical and geochemical tools, to quantify the contribution of snowmelting proportions in the Lignon. This instrumentation is a monitoring of the different compartments / hydrological interfaces made up by atmosphere, snow, soil and rivers throughout the seasons.Snow, and especially the snow water equivalent, is fundamental to a better hydrological understanding of the sources of the Lignon, located directly downstream of a large snowdrift. This amount of water is stored during the cold season, to be returned during the spring melting. This return is heterogeneous in the top of the Lignon, due to the high spatial and temporal variability of parameters leading the melting.The infiltration of water therefore produced is a key step in the hydrological behavior of the Lignon during the spring time, which can be potentially more affected by the freezing of the ground, which significantly increases surface runoff.Soil structure near sources also explains the strong dependence of the sources of the Lignon towards snowfalls and rains. This dependence is especially noticeable at the snow melting that changes with very short term the flows at the sources.This snow-rainfall-runoff relationship highlights a predominant rain-snow surface supply, in comparison with the deeper water flows, and variable during the year.This instrumentation method, adapted to the local scale hydrology, allows corroborating the results obtained with a good accuracy, while opening new opportunities for application to other altitude watersheds.

[pt] A dissertação apresenta um estudo da resolução de problemas de acoplamento termo-hidráulico através do uso técnicas numéricas. O estudo tem por objetivo a validação de implementações de efeitos de gradientes de temperatura no fluxo de umidade. Para isto utiliza-se o programa UNSATCHEM- 2D que simula o fluxo bidimensional de umidade em meios de saturação variável, transporte de calor, transporte de CO2 e transporte de solutos. O programa desenvolvido por Simunek e Suarez (1993), possui código aberto (escrito em Fortran 77), onde as equações governantes de fluxo e transporte de calor são resolvidas por elementos finitos. A partir do programa UNSATCHEM-2D, foram realizadas implementações no código a fim de permitir o acoplamento parcial (staggered) do fluxo de umidade e o fluxo de calor que reproduz o fenômeno descrito por de Vries (1958). Paralelamente, desenvolveram-se mudanças no programa MTool(Tecgraf/PUC- Rio), utilizado como pré- e pós-processador. Posteriormente, foram validadas as implementações realizadas no programa comparando-se os resultados da solução numérica com resultados experimentais a partir de um ensaio de coluna (Bach, 1989), com resultados considerados satisfatórios. Finalizando, são apresentadas simulações com fontes de calor interna e externa paralelamente com o emprego de condições de contorno atmosféricas que simulam coberturas de resíduos de minério. / [en] The dissertation presents a study of the resolution of thermo-hydraulic coupling problems, through the use of numerical techniques. The study has the objective the implementations validation of the temperature gradients effects in the moisture flux. For this, the program UNSATCHEM-2D is used to simulate the flow of water in mediums of variable saturation to two dimensions, transport of heat, transport of CO2 and solute transport. The program developed by Simunek and Suarez (1993), has open code (written in Fortran 77), where the governing equations of flow and transport of heat are solved for the method of the finite elements. Starting from the original program UNSATCHEM-2D, alterations were carried out in the code in order to allow the partial coupling (staggered) of moisture flow and heat flow as described by de Vries (1958). In parallel, changes were developed in the software MTool (Tecgraf/PUC-Rio), used as pre- and posprocessor. Later, the modifications carried out in the program were validated by the comparison of the numeric solution results with experimental results starting from a column test (Bach, 1989), with acceptable results. Concluding, simulations are presented with internal and external sources of heat together with the use of atmospheric boundary conditions, one that simulates covers for mining wastes.

Quatre événements El Niño extrêmes ont eu lieu durant les cinq dernières décennies (1972/1973, 1982/1983, 1997/1998 et 2015/2016) et étaient caractérises comme forts dans la région Niño 3.4. Ils présentent des différences significatives dans leur évolution qui induisent des anomalies distinctes de précipitations le long du versant Pacifique Péruvien illustrant la non-linéarité de la téléconnexion ENSO sur les précipitations dans cette région. Les pluies extrêmes ont un impact néfaste sur la population et les secteurs productifs en raison des inondations et des glissements de terrain qui s'ensuivent. Néanmoins, à ce jour, les patrons de circulation climatique clé de leurs évolutions et magnitudes différentes sont encore très peu connus. Dans cette thèse, nous montrons que les différentes configurations de précipitations lors de ces événements sont associées au transport de l'humidité provenant de différentes sources d'humidité à grande échelle. Lors des événements 1983-1998 (2016), ils sont respectivement liés à une forte (faible à modérée) humidité provenant du réchauffement du Pacifique (également mais aussi provenant de L'Atlantique via l'Amazonie). La caractéristique de ces transports d'humidité est due à une réponse atmosphérique opposée entre les événements de 1983-1998 (qui sont similaires) et l'événement de 2016 qui présente des patterns de transport d'humidité déphasés. Ces précipitations sont liées à l'humidité provenant de ces sources et la circulation atmosphérique régionale des vents de niveau supérieur (100 à 300 hPa) influe sur la quantité d'humidité qui pénètre dans la région Nord-Centre du versant Pacifique Péruvien. L'interaction de la circulation à grande échelle et régionale et le transport de l'humidité du Pacifique est expliqué par le mode Ep qui est associé à des précipitations dans la région Centre-Nord. La forte dispersion des précipitations dans les régions montagneuses est expliquée par le mode Cp pendant les phénomènes El Niño modérés (extrêmes) et est liée au transport d'humidité de niveau moyen-bas (haut) de l'Amazonie (Pacifique) atteignant les hautes terres. / Four strong El Niño events took place within the last five decades (1972/1973, 1982/1983, 1997/1998 and 2015/2016) recorded as strong in the Niño 3.4 region. They can exhibit significant differences in their evolution associated with a distinct rainfall anomaly evolution along the PPB (Peruvian Pacific Basin), which illustrates the strong nonlinearity of the ENSO teleconnection on the rainfall in this area. These extreme rainfalls have harmful impacts on the population and productive sectors due to floods and landslides which are trigged by them. Yet the key climatic circulation pattern for their different evolution and magnitude are still unknown. Here we show that different rainfall patterns during these events are associated with moisture transport originated from different large-scale moisture sources. For example, in the 1983 -1998 (2016) events appear as related with strong (weak to moderate) moisture coming from the Pacific warming (also coming from Atlantic Ocean through the Amazon basin). Characteristic of these moisture transports is due to an atmospheric response opposite between the 1983-1998 events (that are similar) and 2016 event experiencing out-of-phase moisture transport patterns. Although these rainfalls are linked to the moisture arrival from those sources, the moisture amount entering the PPB can be also influenced by regional atmospheric circulation of upper level winds (100 to 300 hPa) leading to different enhanced moisture transport associated with different rainfall anomalies in the North-Centre PPB. The interplay of large-scale and regional circulation and Pacific moisture transport explains the Ep mode associated with rainfall in the north-Centre PPB. The high dispersion of rainfall in highlands (Cp mode) during the moderate (extremes) El Niño appears as linked to low-middle (high level) moisture transport from the Amazon (Pacific) reaching highlands.

La télédétection par satellite est aujourd'hui une composante à part entière de l'océanographie. Elle permet d'effectuer des mesures de vents, de température de surface (SST), de couleur de l'eau, de topographie, ... avec des couvertures spatiales et temporelles bien supérieures à celles obtenues par des méthodes in situ. Cependant, il n'existe pas à l'heure actuelle de mesure satellitaire de salinité de surface des océans (SSS), et celle-ci reste sous échantillonnée à la fois spatialement et temporellement. La salinité étant un paramètre important pour la circulation des masses d'eau océaniques, son observation globale et régulière constituerait un apport conséquent à l'océanographie physique. C'est pourquoi de nombreuses équipes scientifiques à travers le monde relèvent actuellement le défi technologique de la télédétection de la SSS par satellite, et particulièrement en Europe grâce à la mission de l'Agence Spatiale Européenne « Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity » (SMOS). Au cours de ma thèse, j'ai étudié la faisabilité de la mesure de la SSS à l'aide d'un radiomètre hyperfréquence en bande L (i.e. fréquence = 1.4 GHz <=> longueur d'onde = 21 cm), en estimant les sources d'incertitude sur la SSS qui sera restituée dans le cadre de la mission SMOS. Pour cela, j'ai codé un modèle direct, qui simule les processus physiques intervenant depuis la surface océanique jusqu'à l'antenne du radiomètre. Ce modèle est constitué d'un modèle d'émissivité de la mer à « deux échelles » (i.e. on distingue les vagues selon qu'elles soient « grandes » ou « petites » par rapport à la longueur d'onde du radiomètre), et d'un modèle de transfert radiatif à travers l'atmosphère. Le modèle d'émissivité m'a permis d'estimer la sensibilité de la température de brillance (Tb) de l'océan aux paramètres géophysique océanique (i.e. SSS, SST, et rugosité de surface induite par le vent ou la houle), ainsi que l'incertitude sur cette sensibilité en comparant les résultats obtenus à partir de paramétrisations différentes. J'ai conclu de ces études que la sensibilité de la Tb à la SSS est relativement bien connue (de l'ordre de quelques dixièmes de Kelvin par psu) mais que l'effet de la rugosité est très incertain à cause de l'imprécision des modèles de spectre des vagues, alors que cet effet ne semble pas être négligeable (la sensibilité de la Tb au vent étant comprise entre 0.12 à 0.25 K/(m/s) selon le modèle de spectre). Le modèle de transfert radiatif m'a permis d'estimer les différentes contributions de l'atmosphère (atténuation des rayonnements la traversant et émission propre), ainsi que la sensibilité de ces contributions aux paramètres atmosphériques (i.e. profils de température, pression et humidité relative). En bande L, l'atmosphère est quasiment transparente (épaisseur optique ~ 0.01 néper) et sa température de brillance est de l'ordre de 2 K. Ces effets sont peu sensibles aux paramètres atmosphériques, particulièrement à la vapeur d'eau. Je présente aussi dans la thèse des comparaisons du modèle avec des mesures radiométriques en bande L récentes (campagnes WISE 2000, WISE 2001 et EuroSTARRS) ainsi que les conclusions sur la validité des différents modèles de spectre de mer étudiés.

<p>Relationships between stresses during the drying process, particle structural and functional properties, and particle engineering by the drying process were addressed in this thesis. In the first part, the importance of the drying phase and the effect of the drying rate on the intragranular porosity of microcrystalline cellulose pellets were investigated. Differences in porosities of dried pellets could be explained by liquid-related differences in densification during convective drying rather than by differences in densification during wet agglomeration. An increased drying rate gave more porous pellets with a lower compression shear strength, and thereby stronger tablets. The next part dealt with modulation of solid-state stability and tabletting behaviour of amorphous lactose by incorporation of different polymers by spray drying. Increased content and molecular weight of poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) resulted in an increased resistance to crystallisation provoked by heat and moisture. The stabilising effect was even more evident after long-term storage. However, the glass transition temperature was almost unaffected and may, therefore, be questioned as a stability indicator for these types of materials. The presence of the polymers resulted in somewhat less deformable particles. Incorporation of PVP increased the compactability, whilst a surfactant decreased it, which could be shown to be related to differences in particle-particle adhesivity between the different particles. This thesis contributes to increased mechanistic understanding in the area of particle engineering that may lead to better prediction and optimisation of the functionality of pharmaceutical particles, which is of the utmost importance in the development and production of solid dosage forms.</p>

Achieving and maintaining sustainability in irrigated agriculture production in the era of rapidly increasing stress on our natural resources require, among other essential actions, optimum control and management of the applied water. Thus, a significant upgrade of the currently available soil water monitoring technologies is needed. The primary goal of this work was to reduce the uncertainties of spatially variable soil water in the field. Two approaches are suggested: 1) The Bayesian decision model that implicitly accounts for spatial variability at minimal cost based on limited field data, and 2) The Actively Heated Fiber Optic (AHFO) method that explicitly accounts for spatial variability with high sampling density at relatively low cost per measurement point. The Bayesian decision model uses an algorithm to integrate information embodied in independent estimates of soil water depletion to derive a posterior estimation of soil water status that has the potential to reduce the risk of costly errors in irrigation scheduling decisions. The sources of information are obtained from an ET based water balance model, soil water measurements, and expert opinion. The algorithm was tested in a numerical example based on a field experiment where soil water depletion measurements were made at 43 sites in an agricultural field under center pivot irrigation. The results showed that the estimates of the average soil water depletion in the field obtained from the posterior distributions of soil water depletion proved to outperform simple averaging of n soil water depletion measurements, up to n = 35 measurements. For n< 3, the model also provided a 39% average reduction in risk of error derived from non-representative measurements. The AHFO method observes the heating and cooling of a buried fiber optic (FO) cable through the course of a pulse application of energy as monitored by a distributed temperature sensing (DTS) system to reveal soil water content simultaneously at sub-meter scale along the FO cable that can potentially exceeds kilometers in length. A new and simple interpretation of heat data that takes advantage of the characteristics of FO temperature measurements is presented. The results demonstrate the feasibility of AHFO method application to obtain <0.05 m³m⁻³ error distributed measurements of soil water content under laboratory controlled conditions. The AHFO method was then tested under field conditions using 750 m of FO cables buried at 30, 60, and 90 cm depths in agricultural field. The calibration curve relating soil water content to the thermal response of the soil to a heat pulse was developed in the lab. It was successively applied to the 30 and 60 cm depths cables, while the 90 cm depth cable illustrated the challenges of soil heterogeneity for this technique. The method was used to map with high spatial (1m) and temporal (1hr) resolution the spatial variability of soil water content and fluxes induced by the non-uniformity of water application at the surface. / Graduation date: 2012

Relationships between stresses during the drying process, particle structural and functional properties, and particle engineering by the drying process were addressed in this thesis. In the first part, the importance of the drying phase and the effect of the drying rate on the intragranular porosity of microcrystalline cellulose pellets were investigated. Differences in porosities of dried pellets could be explained by liquid-related differences in densification during convective drying rather than by differences in densification during wet agglomeration. An increased drying rate gave more porous pellets with a lower compression shear strength, and thereby stronger tablets. The next part dealt with modulation of solid-state stability and tabletting behaviour of amorphous lactose by incorporation of different polymers by spray drying. Increased content and molecular weight of poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) resulted in an increased resistance to crystallisation provoked by heat and moisture. The stabilising effect was even more evident after long-term storage. However, the glass transition temperature was almost unaffected and may, therefore, be questioned as a stability indicator for these types of materials. The presence of the polymers resulted in somewhat less deformable particles. Incorporation of PVP increased the compactability, whilst a surfactant decreased it, which could be shown to be related to differences in particle-particle adhesivity between the different particles. This thesis contributes to increased mechanistic understanding in the area of particle engineering that may lead to better prediction and optimisation of the functionality of pharmaceutical particles, which is of the utmost importance in the development and production of solid dosage forms.