L’un des objectifs du programme de recherche Opticook est d’équiper les fours avec des capteurs spectroscopiques qui permettront de piloter de façon non intrusive la cuisson de viande et de poisson. Le développement de ces capteurs est basé sur l’hypothèse que les protéines de ces aliments sont de bons marqueurs du degré de cuisson. Dans ce contexte, dans un premier temps, plusieurs outils ont été mis en œuvre pour caractériser l’effet de différents barèmes de cuisson sur les propriétés macroscopiques (texture, couleur) d’échantillons de bœuf, de poulet et de dos de cabillaud. Puis, pour étudier les transformations que subissent ces échantillons à l’échelle moléculaire, nous avons utilisé la calorimétrie et différentes spectroscopies. La spectroscopie dans le domaine du visible nous a permis d’observer la dénaturation des hémoprotéines grâce à l’évolution de l’état (oxy à met ). Ces protéines sont responsables du changement de couleur observé entre 50 et 75 °C. Les spectroscopies dans le moyen infrarouge et de fluorescence ont été utilisées pour suivre les changements de structures associées à la dénaturation des protéines fibrillaires. La myosine, purifiée à partir du blanc de poulet, a été étudiée en fonction de la température par fluorescence. Les résultats nous ont montré que des évolutions de la structure protéique se produisent dès 50 °C. À l’échelle microscopique, nous avons réalisé des expériences sur des échantillons de bœuf par RMN bas champ (séquences d’impulsion et gradient de champ), et par tomographie de neutrons pour rendre compte de la contraction des fibres et de la libération du jus selon le degré de cuisson. L’analyse des images 3D enregistrées par tomographie de neutrons et le traitement des données de RMN montrent des changements importants de la morphologie et de la densité de fibres des échantillons après la cuisson à haute température. Pour associer les deux approches (moléculaire et microscopique) des mesures couplées de spectroscopie et d’imagerie de neutrons ont été menées dans le four Opticook pendant la cuisson de tranches de bœuf. Ce couplage nous a permis de suivre l’évolution de la morphologie due à la contraction des fibres, la migration du jus, ainsi que le changement de couleur associé à la dénaturation des hémoprotéines. Nous en concluons qu’il est en effet possible de suivre le degré de cuisson de viande et de poisson à l’aide de différentes spectroscopies (la fluorescence et le visible) grâce aux signatures spectroscopiques de plusieurs marqueurs internes à ces matrices : la myosine, le collagène et les hémoprotéines. / One of the purposes of the Opticook project is to install spectroscopic sensors in ovens, so equipping them with non intrusive tools allowing following cooking process of meat and fish. The hypothesis on which sensors were developed was: are muscular proteins proper probes to discriminate among several cooking degrees? Thus, at the beginning of the project several tools were used to characterise effect of several cooking degrees on macroscopic properties (texture and colour) of beef, chicken and cod fillet samples. Following, calorimetry and spectroscopic techniques were used to study transformations at molecular scale. In particular, visible spectroscopy followed denaturation of haemproteins observing their evolution from oxy to met state. Colour change was observed between 50 and 75 °C. Middle infrared and fluorescence spectroscopies were used to observe evolution of fibrillar proteins which are associated with meat texture changes. One of myofibrils, myosin, was purified from chicken breast and was studied depending on temperature by fluorescence spectroscopy. Observations showed evolution of protein structure occurred around 50 °C. At microscopic scale, low field NMR (spin echo and gradient field configurations) and neutron tomography were used to observe morphology changes and juice release on beef samples according to cooking degree. 3D image analysis and NMR data showed morphology and fibre density changes at high temperature.We associated the two approaches (molecular and microscopic) in the last part of the research. So coupled measures were realised by combining neutron imaging and spectroscopy techniques during cooking process on beef slices by Opticook oven. Coupled measures allowed following morphology evolution because of fibre contractions, juice migration and colour modification as well associated to haemprotein denaturation. In conclusion, it is possible to follow cooking process of meat and fish by following several spectroscopic signatures (fluorescence and visible ones) of matrix own probes: myosin, collage and haemproteins.

Face au changement climatique global, il est de plus en plus important de prêter attention à la performance thermique-hydro-mécanique des constructions géotechniques sous l'effet des conditions atmosphériques. L'objectif principal de cette étude est d'étudier le comportement hydro-thermique des sols soumis au effets du changement climatique par la modélisation numérique.Un modèle hydro-thermique couplé est tout d'abord développé pour décrire le comportement du sol hydro-thermique. La théorie utilisée pour décrire l'interaction sol-atmosphère est présentée sous forme des bilans de masse et d'énergie. Ensuite, une approche numérique pour analyser le comportement hydro-thermique du sol est proposée en combinant le modèle hydro-thermique couplé avec un modèle d'interaction sol-atmosphère. La validation de cette approche est réalisée par la comparaison entre les résultats numériques obtenus en utilisant le code FreeFem++ et les données des essais de la colonne de séchage qui sont trouvées dans la littérature. Cette approche est d'abord utilisée pour la modélisation numérique des essais à la chambre environnementale, réalisés par Song en 2014. Des résultats de simulation satisfaisants sont obtenus en termes de variations de la température et de la teneur en eau volumétrique du sol. Ensuite, cette approche est appliquée à deux remblais, à Héricourt et à Rouen. Pour le remblai d’Héricourt, une étude numérique a été menée pour une durée de 20 jours. La bonne concordance obtenue entre les résultats de simulation et les mesures montre que l'approche proposée est pertinente pour l'analyse du comportement hydro-thermique du sol dans le cas de remblais bidimensionnels. Elle prouve également que les conditions aux limites et les paramètres du sol adoptés sont appropriés. Dans le cas du remblai de Rouen, deux périodes différentes, 187 jours et 387 jours, sont prises en considération. On vérifie également la bonne performance de l'approche proposée pour estimer le comportement hydro-thermique du remblai sous l'effet du climat. La comparaison entre les calculs et les mesures révèle également l'importance d'adopter correctement les conditions aux limites thermiques et hydrauliques ainsi que les paramètres du sol. De plus, à partir des simulations numériques, plusieurs suggestions sont faites pour collecter des données d'entrée dans l'application de cette approche pour prédire les variations de la température et de la teneur en eau du sol à plus long terme / Facing the global climate change, it is more and more important to pay attention to the thermal-hydro-mechanical performance of geotechnical constructions under the effect of atmospheric conditions. The main objective of this study is to investigate the hydro-thermal behavior of soil subjected to climate change through numerical modelling.A coupled hydro-thermal model is developed for describing the coupled hydro-thermal soil behavior. The soil-atmosphere interaction is studied through the mass and energy balances. Afterwards, a numerical approach to estimate soil hydro-thermal behavior by integrating the coupled hydro-thermal model with a soil-atmosphere interaction model is proposed. The validation of this approach is performed through the comparison between the numerical results using FreeFem++ code and the experimental data available from column drying tests reported in literature. This approach is firstly used for the numerical modelling of the environmental chamber tests carried out by Song in 2014. Satisfactory simulation results are obtained in terms of variations of soil temperature and soil volumetric water content. Afterwards, this approach is further applied to two cases of embankments, in Héricourt and in Rouen respectively. For Héricourt embankment, a numerical investigation was conducted for 20 days, and a good agreement between simulation results and filed measurements is obtained, showing that the proposed approach is suitable for analyzing the soil hydro-thermal behavior in the case of two-dimensional embankments. It proves also that the boundary conditions and the soil parameters adopted are appropriate. In the case of Rouen embankment, two different periods, 187 days and 387 days, are considered. The good performance of the proposed approach in estimating the embankment hydro-thermal behavior under the climate effect is also verified. The comparison between calculations and measurements also reveals the importance of appropriately adopting the thermal and hydraulic boundary conditions as well as the soil parameters. Based on the numerical simulations, several suggestions are made in terms of collection of input data for the application of this approach to predict soil temperature and volumetric water content variations in longer term

Cette thèse s’intéresse à la signature sismique du rôle des fluides dans les mécanismes de déformation des roches fracturées de la croûte supérieure, et plus précisément les failles et les glissements de terrain. S’il est admis que les fluides sont un facteur déclenchant de la rupture dans le cas d’épisodes de forçages climatiques importants ou de glissements très superficiels, leur rôle dans la déstabilisation des grands volumes associée à des forçages faibles est beaucoup moins bien compris. Ainsi, il apparaît nécessaire d’acquérir de nouvelles données synchrones des pressions/débits de fluides, de la déformation et de la sismicité sur le terrain dans des conditions de chargement hydraulique contrôlées pour progresser dans la compréhension des liens entre processus hydromécaniques et sismiques participant à la nucléation de la rupture des roches en partie associée à la réactivation de fractures existantes. Motivé par ce besoin de nouvelles observations, ce travail de thèse concerne l’interprétation de la sismicité produite lors d’expériences originales de stimulation hydraulique (0.3 à 3.5 MPa et 10 à 3000 secondes) de petites zones de faille ou de fractures de taille décamétrique, situées en zones non saturées profonde de versants rocheux. Ces expériences consistaient à produire des déformations menant à l’activation du glissement le long des fractures préexistantes. Le protocole expérimental combine des mesures de déformations/pressions distribuées dans les structures géologiques à des capteurs sismologiques proches (échelle métrique à décamétrique) des zones sources. / This PhD dissertation focuses on the seismic signatures of the role of fluids in the deformation mechanisms of fractured rocks in the upper crust, mainly faults and landslides. While it is generally admitted that fluids are a triggering mechanism for rupture in the cases of episodic and major climate forcing events on shallow landslides, their role in the destabilization of large volumes of rocks, associated to weak forcing, is less understood. Thus, it is primordial to acquire new synchronous data of fluid pressure/flow, deformation and induced seismicity in the field, under controlled conditions of the hydraulic loading, in order to better understand the relationship between seismic and hydromechanical processes involved in the nucleation of rock ruptures, in part associated to the reactivation of existing fractures. Motivated by the need for new observations, this PhD thesis concerns the interpretation of the induced seismicity within unsaturated zones of deep rocky slopes, during original and controlled hydraulic stimulation experiments (0.3 to 3.5 MPa and from 10 to 3000 seconds) of small areas of decameter size. These experiments consisted in triggering rock deformations which lead to the activation of rock sliding along pre-existing fractures where deformation/pressure measurements and seismic sensors were distributed. These experiments were carried out in the Low Noise Underground Laboratory (France), which allows the access to fault zones within a rocky slope (at 250 m depth) and enables accurate geophysical measurements in conditions of very low environmental noise.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering / Daniel V. Swenson / The objective of the thesis is to provide a fully coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) tool, T2STR, which enables quantitative understanding and prediction of thermal as well as mechanical effects on flow in the porous media under multiphase conditions. This is achieved by incorporating a finite element based hydro-thermo-mechanical stress capability into the well-established IFDM (Integrated Finite Difference Method) based flow simulation code TOUGH2. TOUGH2 is a program for calculation of multi-phase, multi-component, non-isothermal flow in porous media. It implements several equation of state modules to represent different fluid mixtures. The dual mesh technique is natural for combining both discretization methods and is used innovatively and effectively. A generalized approach is developed to accommodate the switching of variables implemented in TOUGH2 to adapt the phase changes. The forward coupling is achieved by using the thermal, hydrostatic, and poroelastic effects in the stress calculations. The backward coupling includes the effect of strain on the fluid flow. T2STR also allows the user to study the variation in porosity, permeability and capillary pressure as function of mean effective stress in the porous media. Multiple materials can be used to model the reservoir in T2STR, parallel to the implementation in TOUGH2. T2STR is implemented to carry out as a fully coupled, one way coupled (only deformation as function of hydro-thermal effects), or original TOUGH2 implementation. It provides the ability to switch on and off the thermal and/or poroelastic effects. T2STR is developed to model the fractured porous media using discrete fractures. The modeling of fractured porous media is limited to a staggered coupling approach. The fluid parameters like permeability, porosity are modified based on the stresses and/or aperture changes due to deformation. A set of verification problems, used to validate the code and display the capabilities of the code, are discussed. A graphical user interface is designed to pre-process the necessary data. Macros are developed for excel and Tecplot to post-process the results for easy visualization.

L’objectif de cette thèse est la détermination des causes du phénomène d'érosion marine, et la production de propositions d'orientation pour la protection de la plage de l’Almanarre. L'étude commence par la collecte et l'analyse de toutes les données disponibles, pour trouver des règles d’évolution du tombolo de Giens. Puis, le logiciel de modélisation MIKE a été appliqué pour confirmer l'hypothèse et à obtenir une meilleure connaissance de la dynamique à l’œuvre au tombolo Ouest. Ensuite, nous avons couplé des facteurs simultanément : les houles, les courants côtiers, et les transports des sédiments pour les différents régimes de houle et de vent dans MIKE 21. Enfin, la possibilité de stabiliser le tombolo Ouest est discutée pour donner des suggestions sur les choix de solutions adaptées. / The objective of this thesis is the determination of the causes of sea erosion phenomenon, and the production of policy proposals for the protection of the beach. The study begins with the collection and analysis of all available data, to find evolution rules of tombolo of Giens. Which aims to explain how the hydrodynamic processes and sediment transport occur. Then MIKE modeling software was applied to confirm the hypothesis and get a better understanding of the dynamics at work in the Western tombolo. Then, we coupled factors simultaneously: waves, coastal currents and sediment transport for different regimes of wave and wind in MIKE 21. Finally, the possibility of stabilizing the Western tombolo is discussed to give suggestions on the choice of solutions.

Le thème de cette thèse est l'analyse mathématique de modèles décrivant l'intrusion saline dans les aquifères côtiers. On a choisi d'adopter la simplicité de l'approche avec interface nette : il n'y a pas de transfert de masse entre l'eau douce et l'eau salée (resp. entre la zone saturée et la zone sèche). On compense la difficulté mathématique liée à l'analyse des interfaces libres par un processus de moyennisation verticale nous permettant de réduire le problème initialement 3D à un système d'edps définies sur un domaine, Ω, 2D. Un second modèle est obtenu en combinant l'approche 'interface nette' à celle avec interface diffuse ; cette approche est déduite de la théorie introduite par Allen-Cahn, utilisant des fonctions de phase pour décrire les phénomènes de transition entre les milieux d'eau douce et d'eau salée (respectivement les milieux saturé et insaturé). Le problème d'origine 3D est alors réduit à un système fortement couplé d'edps quasi-linéaires de type parabolique dans le cas des aquifères libres décrivant l'évolution des profondeurs des 2 surfaces libres et de type elliptique-parabolique dans le cas des aquifères confinés, les inconnues étant alors la profondeur de l'interface eau salée par rapport à eau douce et la charge hydraulique de l'eau douce. Dans la première partie de la thèse, des résultats d'existence globale en temps sont démontrés montrant que l'approche couplée interface nette-interface diffuse est plus pertinente puisqu'elle permet d'établir un principe du maximum plus physique (plus précisèment une hiérarchie entre les 2 surfaces libres). En revanche, dans le cas de l'aquifère confiné, nous montrons que les deux approches conduisent à des résultats similaires. Dans la seconde partie de la thèse, nous prouvons l'unicité de la solution dans le cas non dégénéré, la preuve reposant sur un résultat de régularité du gradient de la solution dans l'espace Lr (ΩT), r > 2, (ΩT = (0,T) x Ω). Puis nous nous intéressons à un problème d'identification des conductivités hydrauliques dans le cas instationnaire. Ce problème est formulé par un problème d'optimisation dont la fonction coût mesure l'écart quadratique entre les charges hydrauliques expérimentales et celles données par le modèle. / The theme of this thesis is the analysis of mathematical models describing saltwater intrusion in coastal aquifers. The simplicity of sharp interface approach is chosen : there is no mass transfer between fresh water and salt water (respectively between the saturated zone and the area dry). We compensate the mathematical difficulty of the analysis of free interfaces by a vertical averaging process allowing us to reduce the 3D problem to system of pde's defined on a 2D domain Ω. A second model is obtained by combining the approach of 'sharp interface' in that with 'diffuse interface' ; this approach is derived from the theory introduced by Allen-Cahn, using phase functions to describe the phenomena of transition between fresh water and salt water (respectively the saturated and unsaturated areas). The 3D problem is then reduced to a strongly coupled system of quasi-linear parabolic equations in the unconfined case describing the evolution of the DEPTHS of two free surfaces and elliptical-parabolic equations in the case of confined aquifer, the unknowns being the depth of salt water/fresh water interface and the fresh water hydraulic head. In the first part of the thesis, the results of global in time existence are demonstrated showing that the sharp-diffuse interface approach is more relevant since it allows to establish a mor physical maximum principle (more precisely a hierarchy between the two free surfaces). In contrast, in the case of confined aquifer, we show that both approach leads to similar results. In the second part of the thesis, we prove the uniqueness of the solution in the non-degenerate case. The proof is based on a regularity result of the gradient of the solution in the space Lr (ΩT), r > 2, (ΩT = (0,T) x Ω). Then we are interest in a problem of identification of hydraulic conductivities in the unsteady case. This problem is formulated by an optimization problem whose cost function measures the squared difference between experimental hydraulic heads and those given by the model.

La production d’électricité par voie solaire apparait comme la solution la plus prometteuse pour l’avenir, tant en termes de coûts que de pollution. Cependant, afin d’atteindre le niveau de technologie requis pour envisager l’implémentation de telles centrales à grande échelle, plusieurs verrous technologiques et scientifiques sont encore à lever.Dans cette optique, les récepteurs/absorbeurs volumiques pourraient permettre d’atteindre de plus hautes températures que les récepteurs surfaciques (technologie actuellement utilisée dans les tours solaires à concentration), permettant l’usage de cycles thermodynamiques à haute rendement, tels que les cycles Brayton. Via le projet ANR-OPTISOL, la thèse présentée ici veut répondre en partie à ces problématiques par l’étude des absorbeurs solaires volumiques :- Une étude expérimentale des mousses céramiques utilisées comme absorbeur solaire volumique haute température a été menée au laboratoire CNRS-PROMES (UPR 8521). Une expérience a été conçue afin de tester des échantillons de 5cm de diamètre soumis au flux solaire concentré en conditions quasi-1D au foyer d’un four solaire à axe vertical ;- Un code de calcul des transferts thermiques couplés en milieu poreux a été développé utilisant l’hypothèse de « milieu homogène équivalent », puis validé sur les campagnes expérimentales ;- Finalement, un algorithme d’optimisation par essaim de particules a été utilisé afin de déterminer les propriétés géométriques optimales de mousses céramiques maximisant l’efficacité de conversion thermosolaire. / Solar-to-electricity power plants appear to be the most promises way for large electricity production in the future, in terms of costs as well as environmental impacts. Thus, reaching the required technology level still requires research and innovations in order to implement such power plants at large scale.In this context, volumetric solar receivers/absorbers could allow us to reach higher temperatures in comparison to surface receivers (actual concentrating solar power technology used in solar towers), leading to high efficiency thermodynamical cycles such as Brayton cycles. With the ANR-OPTISOL project, this thesis tends to give new answers on volumetric solar absorbers using ceramic foams:- Experimental studies of open pores ceramic foams used as high temperature volumetric solar absorber have been conducted at CNRS-PROMES laboratory (UPR 8521), with designed of a dedicated experiment for 5cm diameter samples operating under quasi-1D conditions submitted to concentrated solar power at the focal point of a vertical axis solar furnace;- A numerical code has been developed in order to solve coupled heat transfers in porous medium using the “equivalent homogeneous medium” hypothesis, then validated on the experimental campaigns;- Finally, an optimization algorithm has been used (“particle swarm optimization”) aiming the identification of the optimal geometrical characteristics maximizing the solar-to-thermal efficiency of ceramic foams.

The elemental analysis of soil is useful in forensic and environmental sciences. Methods were developed and optimized for two laser-based multi-element analysis techniques: laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) and laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). This work represents the first use of a 266 nm laser for forensic soil analysis by LIBS. Sample preparation methods were developed and optimized for a variety of sample types, including pellets for large bulk soil specimens (470 mg) and sediment-laden filters (47 mg), and tape-mounting for small transfer evidence specimens (10 mg). Analytical performance for sediment filter pellets and tape-mounted soils was similar to that achieved with bulk pellets. An inter-laboratory comparison exercise was designed to evaluate the performance of the LA-ICP-MS and LIBS methods, as well as for micro X-ray fluorescence (μXRF), across multiple laboratories. Limits of detection (LODs) were 0.01-23 ppm for LA-ICP-MS, 0.25-574 ppm for LIBS, 16-4400 ppm for µXRF, and well below the levels normally seen in soils. Good intra-laboratory precision (≤ 6 % relative standard deviation (RSD) for LA-ICP-MS; ≤ 8 % for µXRF; ≤ 17 % for LIBS) and inter-laboratory precision (≤ 19 % for LA-ICP-MS; ≤ 25 % for µXRF) were achieved for most elements, which is encouraging for a first inter-laboratory exercise. While LIBS generally has higher LODs and RSDs than LA-ICP-MS, both were capable of generating good quality multi-element data sufficient for discrimination purposes. Multivariate methods using principal components analysis (PCA) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) were developed for discriminations of soils from different sources. Specimens from different sites that were indistinguishable by color alone were discriminated by elemental analysis. Correct classification rates of 94.5 % or better were achieved in a simulated forensic discrimination of three similar sites for both LIBS and LA-ICP-MS. Results for tape-mounted specimens were nearly identical to those achieved with pellets. Methods were tested on soils from USA, Canada and Tanzania. Within-site heterogeneity was site-specific. Elemental differences were greatest for specimens separated by large distances, even within the same lithology. Elemental profiles can be used to discriminate soils from different locations and narrow down locations even when mineralogy is similar.

No description available.

The knowledge of soil moisture is of pronounced importance in various applications e.g. flood control, agricultural production and effective water resources management. These applications require the knowledge of spatial and temporal variation of the soil moisture in the watershed. There are three approaches of estimating/measuring soil moisture namely,(i) in-situ measurements,(ii) remote sensing, and(iii) hydrological modelling. The in situ techniques of measurement provide relatively accurate information at point scale but are not feasible to gather in large numbers relevant for a watershed. The soil moisture can be simulated by hydrological models at the desired spatial and temporal resolution, but these simulations would often be affected by the uncertainties in the model physics, parameters, forcing, initial and boundary conditions. The remote sensing provides an alternative to retrieve the soil moisture of the surface (top few centimeters ) layer, but even this data is limited by the spatial or temporal resolution, which is satellite dependant. Hydrological models could be improved by assimilating remotely sensed soil moisture, which requires a retrieval algorithm. In order to develop a retrieval algorithm the satellite data need to be calibrated/validated with the in-situ ground measurements. The retrieval of surface soil moisture from microwave remote sensing is sensitive to surface conditions, and hence requires calibration/validation specific to a site/region. The improvement in the hydrological variables/fluxes is sensitive to the framework adopted during the assimilation of remotely sensed data. The main focus of the study was to assess the retrieval algorithm for the surface soil moisture from both active (ENVISAT,RADARSAT-2)and passive(AMSR-E) microwave satellites in a semi-arid tropical watershed of South India. Further, the usefulness of these retrieved remotely sensed products for the estimation of recharge was investigated by developing a coupled hydrological model and an assimilation framework. A brief introduction was made in Chapter 1 on the importance of surface soil moisture and evapotranspiration in hydrology, and the feasible options available for the retrieval from microwave remote sensing. A detailed review of the literature is presented in Chapter 2 to establish the state-of-the-art on the following:(i) retrieval algorithms for the surface soil moisture from active and passive microwave remote sensing,(ii) estimation of actual evapotranspiration from optical remote sensing(MODIS),(iii) coupled surface-ground water hydrological models,(iv) estimation of soil hydraulic properties with their uncertainties, and(v) assimilation framework specific to hydrological modelling. To calibrate/validate the retrieval algorithms and to test the coupled model and the assimilation framework developed, field measurements were carried out in the BerambadI experimental watershed located in the Kabini river basin. The surface soil moisture in 50 field plots, profile soil moisture up to 1m depth in 20 field plots, and ground water level in 200 bore wells were measured. Twelve images of ENVISAT, seven teen images of RADARSAT-2, along with AMSR-E and MODIS data were used. These data pertained to different durations during the period 2008 to 2011,the details of which are given in Chapter 3. The approach for the retrieval of surface soil moisture and the associated uncertainty from active and passive microwave remote sensing is given in Chapter 4. Surface soil moisture was retrieved for six vegetation classes using the linear regression model and copulas. Three types of copulas(Clayton, Frank and Gumbel) were investigated. It was found that the ensemble mean simulated using the linear regression model and three copulas was nearly same. The copulas were found to be superior than the linear regression model when comparing the distributions of the mean of the generated ensemble. Among the copulas it was observed that the Clayton copula performed better in the lower and middle ranges of backscatter coefficient, while the Gumbel and Frank copulas were found to be superior in the upper ranges of backscatter coefficients. The range of RMSE was approximatively 4cm3cm−3 indicating that the retrieval from ENVISAT/RADARSAT-2 was good. ACDF based approach was proposed to retrieve the surface soil moisture map for the watershed with a spatial resolution of 100m x 100m ( i.e one hectare). The map of the uncertainty in the retrieved surface soil moisture was also prepared using the Clayton copula. The AMSR-E surface soil moisture product was calibrated for the watershed during the period 2008 to 2011, using the map generated from the ENVISAT/RADARSAT data. They Clayton copula was used to generate the ensemble of the corrected AMSR-E surface soil moisture. The standard deviation of the generated ensemble varied from 0.01 to 0.03cm3cm−3 ,hence the derived surface soil moisture product for Berambadi was found to be good. In the Chapter 5, a one dimensional soil moisture model was developed based on the numerical solution of the Richards’ equation using finite difference method and inverse modeling was carried out using the Generalized Likelihood Uncertainty Estimation(GLUE) approach for estimating the soil hydraulic parameters of the van Genuchten(VG) model and their uncertainty. The parameters were estimated from the two field sites(Berambadi and Wailapally watershed in South India) and from laboratory evaporation experiment for the Wailapally site. It was found that the GLUE approach was able to provide good uncertainty bounds for the soil hydraulic parameters. The uncertainty in the estimates from the field experiment was found to be higher than from the laboratory evaporation experiment for both water retention and hydraulic conductivity curves. The saturated soil moisture(θs )and shape parameter (n) of VG model estimated from the laboratory evaporation and field experiment were found to be the same, and further more they showed a lower uncertainty from both the experiments. Moreover, the residual soil moisture (θr), inverse of capillary fringe thickness (α) and saturated hydraulic conductivity( KS) showed a relatively higher uncertainty. In the Berambadi watershed ,the inverse modeling was performed in three bare field plots, and it was found that field plots which had higher θs showed a relatively higher actual evapotranspiration (AET) and lower potential recharge. In Chapter 6, the retrieval of profile soil moisture up to 2m by assimilation of surface soil moisture was investigated by performing synthetic experiments on six soil types. The measured surface soil moisture over top 5cm depth was assimilated into the one dimensional soil moisture model to retrieve the profile soil moisture. Even though the assimilation of surface soil moisture helped in improving the profile soil moisture for the six soil types, the bias was observed. To reduce the bias, pseudo observations of profile soil moisture were generated and used in addition to the surface soil moisture in the assimilation altogether. These pseudo observations were generated using the linear relationship existing between the surface and profile soil moisture. A significant bias reduction was found to be feasible by using this method when pseudo observations beyond 75cm depth were used then there was no significant improvement. A coupled surface-ground water model was developed, which had 5 layers for the vadose zone and one layer for the ground water zone, in order to consider the major hydrological processes from ground surface to ground water table in a semi-arid watershed. The details of the coupled model were described in Chapter 7. The major aim of this model was to be able to use remotely sensed data of surface soil moisture and evapotranspiration to simulate recharge. The model was tested by applying in a lumped framework to the field data set in the Berambadi watershed for the year 2010 to 2011. The performance of the model was evaluated with the measured watershed average root zone soil moisture and ground water levels. The watershed average root zone soil moisture was obtained by averaging the field measurements from 20 plots and average ground water level was obtained by averaging the field measurement from 200 bore wells. In order to assimilate the AET into the coupled model, the daily AET at a spatial resolution of 1km was estimated from MODIS data. The AET was validated in one forested and four agricultural sites in the watershed. The validation was based on the comparison with AET simulated from water balance models. For agricultural plots the STICS (crop model) and for the forested site the COMFORT (hydrological) model were used. The AET from the MODIS showed a reasonably good match with both the forested and agricultural plots at the annual scale (for the crop model approximately 4-5 months). Model simulations were carried out with and without assimilating the remotely sensed data and the performance was evaluated. It was found that the assimilation helped in capturing the trends in deeper layer soil moisture and groundwater level. At the end, in Chapter 8 the major conclusions drawn from the various chapters are summarized.