The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) is a joint National Aeronautics and Space Administration / Deutsches Zentrum für Luftund Raumfahrt (NASA/DLR) mission to map the time-variable and mean gravity field of the Earth, and was launched on March 17, 2002. The nature of the gravity field inverse problem amplifies the noise in the data that creeps into the mid and high degree and order harmonic coefficients of the earth's gravity fields for monthly variability, making the GRACE estimation problem ill-posed. These errors, due to the use of imperfect models and data noise, are manifested as peculiar errors in the gravity estimates as north-south striping in the monthly global maps of equivalent water heights. In order to reduce these errors, this study develops a methodology based on Tikhonov regularization technique using the L-curve method in combination with orthogonal transformation method. L-curve is a popular aid for determining a suitable value of the regularization parameter when solving linear discrete ill-posed problems using Tikhonov regularization. However, the computational effort required to determine the L-curve can be prohibitive for a large scale problem like GRACE. This study implements a parameter-choice method, using Lanczos bidiagonalization that is a computationally inexpensive approximation to L-curve called L-ribbon. This method projects a large estimation problem on a problem of size of about two orders of magnitude smaller. Using the knowledge of the characteristics of the systematic errors in the GRACE solutions, this study designs a new regularization matrix that reduces the systematic errors without attenuating the signal. The regularization matrix provides a constraint on the geopotential coefficients as a function of its degree and order. The regularization algorithms are implemented in a parallel computing environment for this study. A five year time-series of the candidate regularized solutions show markedly reduced systematic errors without any reduction in the variability signal compared to the unconstrained solutions. The variability signals in the regularized series show good agreement with the hydrological models in the small and medium sized river basins and also show non-seasonal signals in the oceans without the need for post-processing. / text

Soit G un groupe de présentation finie. Un résultat de Gromov affirme l'existence de cycles géométriques réguliers qui représentent une classe d'homologie non nulle h dans le énième groupe d'homologie à coefficients entiers de G, cycles géométriques dont le volume systolique est aussi proche que souhaité du volume systolique de h. Ce théorème, dont aucune démonstration exhaustive n'avait été faite, a servi à obtenir plusieurs résultats importants en géométrie systolique. La première partie de cette thèse est consacrée à une démonstration complète de ce résultat. L'utilisation de ces cycles géométriques réguliers est connue sous le nom de technique de régularisation. Cette technique permet notamment de relier le volume systolique de certaines variétés fermées à d'autres invariants topologiques de ces variétés, tels que les nombres de Betti ou l'entropie minimale. La seconde partie de cette thèse propose d'examiner ces relations, et la mise en oeuvre de la technique de régularisation.La troisième partie est consacrée à trois problèmes liés à la géométrie systolique. Dans un premier temps on s'intéresse à une inégalité concernant les tores pleins plongés dans l'espace tridimensionnel. Puis, on s'intéresse ensuite aux triangulations minimales des surfaces compactes, afin d'obtenir des informations sur le volume systolique de ces surfaces. Enfin, on présente la notion de complexité simpliciale d'un groupe de présentation finie, et ses liens avec la géométrie systolique. / Let G be a finitely presented group. A theorem of Gromov asserts the existence of regular geometric cycles which represent a non null homology class h in the nth homology group with integral coefficients of G, geometric cycles which have a systolic volume as close as desired to the systolic volume of h. This theorem, of which no complete proof has been given, has lead to major results in systolic geometry. The first part of this thesis is devoted to a complete proof of this result.The regularizationtechnique consists in the use of these regular geometric cycles to obtain information about the class $h$. This technique allows to link the systolic volume of some closed manifolds to homotopical invariants of these manifolds, such as the minimal entropy and the Betti numbers. The second part of this thesis proposes to investigate these links.The third part of this thesis is devoted to three problems of systolic geometry. First we are investigating an inequality about embeded tori in $R^3$. Second, we are looking into minimal triangulations of compact surfaces and some information they can provide in systolic geometry. And finally, we are presenting the notion of simplicial complexity of a finitely-presented group and its links with the systolic geometry.