Département Eaux de surface

Eaux de surface – Recherche et gestion (Surf)

Nous étudions aussi bien les différents processus isolés dans les systèmes aquatiques que des systèmes entiers d’eaux naturelles. En plus de la recherche fondamentale et de l’analyse système interdisciplinaire, l’accent est mis particulièrement sur des projets de recherche appliquée.

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News

Confinement imposé par le coronavirus: les lacs sont devenus plus clairs dans le monde entier

Image satellite du Govind Ballabh Pant Sagar, le plus grand lac artificiel d'Inde. (Image : Programme européen d'observation de la Terre Copernicus Global Land Service)
9 avril 2026 –

Pendant la pandémie de COVID-19, le monde s'est arrêté - et de nombreux lacs sont devenus plus clairs de manière mesurable. Une étude mondiale le montre : Les lockdowns avec moins d'industrie, de trafic et d'activités de loisirs...

Pendant la pandémie de COVID-19, le monde s'est arrêté - et de nombreux lacs sont devenus plus clairs de manière mesurable. Une étude mondiale le montre : Les lockdowns avec moins d'industrie, de trafic et d'activités de loisirs ont fait chuter brusquement la turbidité de l'eau des lacs du monde entier, surtout dans les régions riveraines et les estuaires.
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Plus d'actualités

Dernières publications

Camperio, G., Ladd, S. N., Prebble, M., De Jonge, C., Schneider, T., Argiriadis, E., … Dubois, N. (2025). Human–climate–environment interactions in Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu during the past millennium. Frontiers in Earth Science, 13, 1613262 (19 pp.). doi:10.3389/feart.2025.1613262, Institutional Repository

Over the past millennium, the tropical Pacific Islands of Remote Oceania have experienced significant transformations caused by different waves of human settlement and climatic variability. However, many sites remain to be explored for their archeological potential, and the complex climatic setting of the tropical Pacific further complicates our understanding of past environmental and societal changes. In this study, we applied a multi-proxy approach to sediment cores extracted from ponds on the west coast of Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu to investigate past human-climate-environment dynamics. Through the analysis of human-associated proxies including fecal markers, palmitone (a specific lipid biomarker for taro), crop pollen and sedimentary charcoal, we inferred changes in human presence and activities. We reconstructed past hydroclimate from leaf wax hydrogen isotopes (δ2HLW) and past temperatures from branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (brGDGTs). Changes in pollen reveal major shifts in local and regional vegetation. In our record, the period from 1000 to 1300 CE was characterized by warm/wet conditions concomitant with demographic expansion inland. Around 1400 CE, pollen, leaf wax distributions, and δ2HLW data indicated a drier period. The coincident decrease in palmitone, despite high charcoal and fecal marker concentrations, suggested that drier conditions might have rapidly restricted taro cultivation, but not the overall population, which declined more than a century later. We hypothesize that the establishment of one of the earliest European settlements in Oceania in 1606 CE further disrupted local demographics with the introduction of epidemic diseases. This study contributes to our understanding of the intricate relationship between human activities, climatic fluctuations, and landscape modifications in Remote Oceania over the past millennium.
Storelli, N., Sepúlveda Steiner, O., Di Nezio, F., Roman, S., Buetti-Dinh, A., & Bouffard, D. (2025). Physically stable yet biologically sensitive: multiyear ecological dynamics of anoxygenic phototrophs in stably redox-stratified Lake Cadagno. Aquatic Sciences, 87(2), 58 (12 pp.). doi:10.1007/s00027-025-01183-1, Institutional Repository

Lake Cadagno is a meromictic alpine lake characterized by permanent stratification, which creates a permanent anoxic environment that supports the growth of anoxygenic phototrophic sulfur bacteria. The seasonality and interseasonality of these microorganisms were examined over a three-year period (2019–2021) through regular monitoring of the water column. A variety of physical–chemical parameters, including temperature, conductivity, light, oxygen and sulfide concentrations, and the community composition of anoxygenic phototrophic sulfur bacteria in the chemocline were recorded, to observe potential influence of external weather conditions. Our findings indicate that, despite the lake’s consistent physical and chemical stratification, the composition of the anoxygenic phototrophic sulfur bacteria community exhibited notable variations in response to external environmental factors, including changes in rainfall and light irradiance. Specifically, we observed different growth dynamics in the purple (PSB) and green (GSB) sulfur bacteria communities over the three years of monitoring. These variations underscore the complexity of biogeochemical cycles in meromictic lakes and the impact of external environmental factors on this ancestral microbial community dynamics. The results provide valuable insights into the stability of redox-stratified environments, offering a modern analog for ancient aquatic ecosystems. This research emphasizes the importance of long-term regular monitoring to capture interannual dynamics and assess the implications of climate change on such unique ecosystems.
Vologina, E. G., Sturm, M., & Budnev, N. M. (2025). Fluxes and composition of sediment particles in the water column of Southern Lake Baikal between 1999 and 2021. Limnology and Freshwater Biology, 2025(4), 505-514. doi:10.31951/2658-3518-2025-A-4-505, Institutional Repository

This study investigates in detail natural processes of modern sedimentation in South Baikal. The article presents data on the total flux of sedimentary matter, collected between March 1999 and March 2021. The quantity and composition of the recovered material is largely determined by SiO2bio, which is directly dependent on annual blooms of diatoms in the lake. Since 2010, particle fluxes have generally increased. At the same time, there was a change in the dominant diatom species. So called “Melosira years” were replaced by years with increased productivity of species of the genus Synedra. Presumably, this happened due to climate change.

Детально исследованы процессы современного осадконакопления в Южном Байкале. В статье представлены данные об общих потоках осадочного материла, собранные с марта 1999 г. по март 2021 г. Количество и состав извлеченного материала во многом определя-ется SiO2био, который напрямую зависит от ежегодного цветения диатомовых водорослей в озере.С 2010 г. потоки частиц в целом возросли. Одновременно с этим произошла смена доминирующих видов диатомей. Так называемые “мелозирные годы” сменились годами с повышенной урожай-ностью видов рода Synedra. Предположительно это произошло в связи с изменением климата.
 

Séminaires de surf

Weitere
16. - 21.08.​2026,
9h00
Lausanne
Symposium on Ecohydraulics 2026

ISE 2026 + Swiss Ecohydraulics day

08.09.​2026,
9h00
Musée des Transports Lucerne
Journée d'infEau 2026: Énergie - Eau - Avenir

Journée d'infEau 2026

Weitere

Graduate Studies dans notre département

[Translate to Français:] Video über Graduate Studies in der Abteilung Oberflächengewässer

Video sur les Graduate Studies dans le département Eaux de surface

 

Projets de recherche

How does the fish community change in a widening? And how does the riparian vegetation react after deculverting?

Evaluating the outcome of river restoration
Climate change affects lake ecosystems. We investigate the complex interactions in the lake-climate system with global data analysis and local case studies.

Lakes in changing climates
Une nouvelle plateforme de recherche multidisciplinaire pour le lac Léman.

Lac Léman Exploration
Microbes can ‘breath’ metals, and metals can also serve as records of Earth’s past. This project investigates these roles of metals in anoxic lakes.

Biogeochemical cycling at oxic-anoxic boundaries
We try to understand the bulk and compound specific carbon and nitrogen isotopic compositions in food chains.

Ecology of food chain in freshwater systems
Abwasser ist mit antibiotikaresistenten Bakterien belastet. Wir untersuchen ihre Ausbreitung in die Umwelt und Gegenmassnahmen.

Antibiotikaresistenzen als Umweltkontamination
IsoTalk - Dynamik der Isochrysidales Blüte in Schweizer Seen: Auf dem Weg zu einem Alkenone-Paläothermometer für Seen in den mittleren Breiten.

Dynamik der Isochrysidales Blüte in Schweizer Seen
How can Earth observation be used to estimate the safe operating space for water management in a changing climate

Safe operating space in water resource management

Autres projets de recherche