Infrastructure of the Lyon-Grenoble Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Centre

Research units are supported by 7 collective structuring facilities, such as experimental and analytical systems, shared observatories, platforms, etc.

  • OLA (Alpine Lakes Observatory)
    The Observatory’s database includes all data relating to lake monitoring, irrespective of subject area (phytoplankton, zooplankton, fish, physical and chemical characteristics of the water, etc.). Data are obtained, on the one hand, from in situ measurements, such as data from sensors providing profiles at depth for an entire lake (pH, T°, turbidity, transparency, fluorescence, etc.), and on the other hand, from laboratory counts or analyses, based on samples. The observation system focuses on long-term monitoring, mainly of the large perialpine lakes i.e. Lakes Geneva, Annecy, Bourget and Aiguebelette, but it also covers the small high-altitude lakes (Sentinel lakes).
     
  • Alps Workshop Zone (Zone atelier Alpes)

    This is a multidisciplinary observation and research system on the trajectories and functioning of socio-ecosystems in the Alps in a context of global change and socio-economic transformations in mountain areas. Its goals are:
    - to coordinate and/or support long-term scientific observation programmes on relations between the environment and society in the Alps;
    - to promote research at the interfaces between the ecology of ecosystems, geosciences (climatology, hydrology, snow science) and humanities and social sciences (history, sociology, regional economics);
    - to construct research questions jointly with local stakeholders (managers of protected areas, local authorities).

  • Rhône Watershed Workshop Zone  (ZABR - Zone Atelier Bassin du Rhône)

    ZABR – the Rhône Watershed Workshop Zone - has been approved since 2001 by the Ecology and Environment Institute (InEE) of the CNRS (French National Centre for Scientific Research), and brings together 24 public science and technology institutions to promote, coordinate and evaluate research into the functioning of the Rhône basin hydrosystems. Its role is also to organise the transfer of results to those in water and regional management, and equip them with the tools they need to assess the effects of restoration operations and their sustainability on the environment, biodiversity and services provided.

  • La Feyssine Hall (water treatment)
    This platform located close to the La Feyssine wastewater treatment plant (Lyon) provides the opportunity to gain in-depth knowledge of complex phenomena linked to urban wastewater treatment. It is a research tool that helps the public and private stakeholders concerned to obtain the information they need to improve the design and technical management of wastewater treatment systems, with a view to the preservation and sustainable use of resources.
     
  • Hydraulic and Hydromorphology Laboratory (HHLab)
    This 350 m² experimental platform includes three physical models (small-scale models of rivers and city streets). It is used to study the processes associated with river flows and flows in environments highly affected by human activity.
     
  • Collapse of Structures and Risk Platform (study of avalanches, rock slides, etc.)
    This platform is a tool for the multi-scale experimental investigation of rapid gravitational movements, and incorporates laboratories and field sites and observatories. These facilities cover all scales involved in rapid gravitational movements. The laboratory part includes tools to characterise geomaterials, hydraulic channels, a wind tunnel and a reservoir. The field sites include observatories at Draix-Bléone, the Sarennes glacier and Lac Blanc, which form part of the OZCAR research infrastructure where long-term monitoring is carried out, while the other sites (Lautaret, Taconnaz, Manival and Real) are mobilised according to requirements and to the different projects. Laboratories and field sites are equipped with cutting-edge instruments and run by a technical team of seasoned professionals, experienced in carrying. 
     

  • REFLET Platform (wetland systems for wastewater treatment) The REFLET research and development platform, located in Lyon, offers engineering consultants, companies, contractors, etc. specific tools to develop and validate wetland systems to treat wastewater, sludge and urban stormwater (real effluent).