514 research outputs found
Book Review. Nous autres réfugiés. Hannah Arendt. París: Allia, 2019, 43 pp
No full textNous autres réfugiés [We refugees], is the title of a brief but disruptive essay that in January 1943, at 37 years old, Hannah Arendt [1906-1975] published in the American Jewish magazine The Menorah Journal (Arendt, 1943). The article —which has an obvious autobiographical connotation, although how much existential reflection that is positioned from the point of the refugee's point of view cannot be reduced solely to thisdimension—was posthumously reprinted in The Jew as Pariah,edited by Ron H. Feldman (1978, pp. 55-56) and on compiled together with forty other texts by the author, written between the 1930s and 1960s, in the edition prepared by Feldman and Jerome Kohn from his The Jewish Writings (2007, pp. 264-274)
Juan Luis Castro Bey: La escultura como eco de la voz interior
No full text The paper approaches the figure of the sculptor born in San Fernando (Cádiz), who is Juan Luis Castro Bey. In order to reconstruct his biography, the report exposes both of the most important periods in his artistic trajectory. On the one hand, it explains what kind of education he received at the School of Arts and Crafts of Cádiz; on the other hand, the period in which the author began in the world of arts: the imagery. Both periods within this biographical review are essential, because they have been related to the artist's upcoming exhibition which is named “Moments”. In this way, the paper illustrates how Castro Bey’s artistic career over the years has influenced his current work.En el presente artículo se aborda la figura del escultor isleño Juan Luis Castro Bey. Bajo la premisa de realizar un recorrido biográfico, el artículo se centra en exponer dos etapas fundamentales de su carrera artística. Por un lado, se reseña el tipo de formación que recibió en la Escuela de Artes y Oficios de Cádiz; por otro, la etapa con la que se inició en el mundo del arte: la imaginería. La presencia de ambos períodos dentro de esta reseña biográfica es clave ya que se ponen en relación con la próxima exposición de este artista, que él mismo ha querido titular: “Momentos”. De esta manera, se expone la forma en que ha influido la trayectoria seguida por Castro Bey en su obra actual
Long-range transport of pollution to Europe : origins, chemical and transport pathways, and impact on tropospheric composition
No full textOzone (O3) and aerosols are harmful to human health. Long-range transport sources contribute to the background levels upon which local pollution builds. The goal of this thesis is to describe and quantify the respective contribution of local and long-range transported sources to the O3 and aerosol budget in the framework of European air quality management. This issue is examined using a global model of chemistry and transport, the GEOS-Chem model, constrained by several experimental datasets (e.g. trace gases and aerosol distributions, aerosol optical depth, particulate matter concentrations) taken from field experiments, ground-based sites and satellite. The capabilities of the model to reproduce O3 and aerosol patterns is first examined. The model reproduces well in general the distribution of O3 and related species over the North Atlantic/Europe area. The simulation of particulate matter smaller than 2.5 μm (PM2.5) and aerosol optical depth (AOD) over Europe is also satisfying in general, but this may reflect some compensating errors between individual components (e.g. underestimate of organic matter, and overestimate of sulphate and dust). Intercomparison between the GEOS-Chem and another global model (MOZECH) also reveals possible problems in the water vapour distribution associated with the processes which drive the vertical lifting of pollutant over continental boundary layers. Despite these (relative) deficiencies, the model provides anyway insights about the contribution of long-range transport on the O3 and aerosol loads over Europe. The impact of continental outflow on the O3 chemical tendencies over oceanic regions is quantified. Net O3 photochemical production in polluted air masses travelling over oceanic areas under the influence of continental outflow is enhanced all-year round compared to the background marine environment by 2 to 6 ppbv/day in the boundary layer and by 1 to 3 ppbv/day in the upper troposphere. The origin of O3 long-range sources and their impact on the European O3 budget, as well as the role of changing emissions on this budget over the pasts decades is further investigated. Import of North American O3 into Europe is mainly controlled by meteorological patterns and by photochemical production over the North Atlantic and thus reaches a maximum in summer. In addition, Asia contributes to long-range transported O3 pollution by the Indian summer monsoon easterly winds during summer. During the monsoon period, convection is strong and associated NOx lightning emissions also contribute to high O3 levels, especially in the Mediterranean basin. North American and Asian anthropogenic pollution contribute substantially to the annual O3 burden (integrated over the whole tropospheric column) over Europe, accounting for 11% and 8%, respectively while the European contribution only accounts for 9%. The increase in Asian emissions from 1980 to 1997 have compensated the local reduction of O3 precursors, especially in the free troposphere. Finally, the aerosol load over Europe and the contribution of long and medium-range sources including anthropogenic and biomass burning pollution from North America and mineral dust from North Africa is examined. The model was used to interpret MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) AOD and observations provided by the International Consortium for Atmospheric Research on Transport and Transformation (ICARTT) campaign over the North Atlantic and European area. Trans-Atlantic transport of aerosol is controlled by meteorological patterns and scavenging processes and reaches a maximum in spring. North American uxes of aerosols reach Europe at flower altitudes than that of O3 because a larger fraction of aerosols are scavenged in the venting from the boundary layer by frontal passages and deep convection. During high vegetation fire events in the boreal forest of Alaska and Canada, biomass burning pollution could also reach Europe at high altitudes, because a fraction of fire emissions are emitted directly in the free troposphere. Finally, the Saharan region also contributes significantly to the aerosol load over Europe. European sources contribute by 58% and 48% to the surface PM2.5 and column AOD over Europe. The second main sources are the mineral dust which represent in average 20% of the surface PM2.5 and AOD. In summer, North American anthropogenic and biomass burning emissions represent between 2 to 5% of the surface PM2.5 and AOD. The PM2.5 daily standard levels of the World Health organization (WHO) (10 μg/m3) and of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (65 μg/m3) are often exceeded during dust outbreaks, especially in southern Europe. Long-range transport of anthropogenic and natural pollution is thus an important issue which should be considered in the definition of air quality standards and regulation treaties.LMC
Modeling study of the interannual variability in global tropospheric hydroxyl radical and methane concentrations over the last two decades
No full textMethane (CH4) is a major greenhouse gas whose global warming potential is 23 times more important than carbon dioxide (CO2). CH4 concentrations have steadily increased since the beginning of the industrial era, reaching an unprecedent level (almost 1800 ppb at present times). CH4 is currently considered as a one of the major driver of the climate change and its warming potential has leaded the Kyoto protocol to plan a significative reduction of its emissions. The objective of this thesis is to examine the factors that contribute to the CH4 global budget as well as its year-to-year variations. To that purpose, we have implemented a methane simulation in a global model of chemistry and transport. Conducting a CH4 simulation requires a comprehensive set of interannual varying CH4 emission inventories as well as a year-to-year varying 3-D fields of concentrations of hydroxyl radicals (OH) that is the main sink for CH4. The first part of this thesis examines the OH interannual variation, using results from a "full-chemistry" simulation that accounts for interannual variations in emissions of the main O3 precursors (including carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and hydrocarbons) as well as the year-to-year variation in meteorology (e.g. atmospheric water vapor content), lightning emissions, and overhead O3 column. We calculated a global OH concentration of 1.22×106 molec cm-3 averaged over the period. We find that global OH concentrations steadily increased during the early 90's by 8% and reached a maximum in 1997. Afterward, concentrations decrease by 5%. We find that changes in water vapor concentrations, anthropogenic emissions of CO and NOx, lightning NOx emissions, and overhead ozone column all play a role in driving the OH year-to-year variations. The relative contributions of these parameters depend on the latitudinal and altitudinal regions of the troposphere. We examine in particular the influence of the 1997-1998 ENSO on the global OH concentrations. We find that the 1997-1998 ENSO resulted in a large increase in OH in the tropical areas and in the extra-tropical areas of the northern hemisphere (largely driven by an increase in water vapor) while it leads to a decrease in OH in the extra-tropical region of the southern hemisphere (that results from changes in the transport pathways that bring CO in the most southern latitudes and deplete OH). Our results (in terms of OH variability) are in contradiction to those found by other methods, especially those using inverse modeling approaches that are based on methyl chloroform (CH3CCl3) observations. This may results from poorly constrained sources. We then seek to implement a comprehensive set of CH4 emissions in our global model. We used anthropogenic CH4 emission data set of anthropogenic emissions from the International Institute of Technology (IIASA) whose emissions vary between 250 and 290 Tg/year between 1990 and 2000. We estimated biomass burning emissions, derived from an inventory of the total annual biomass burned area and emission factors that we constrained with measurements of the isotopic composition of atmospheric methane. This results in a global emissions rate of 60 Tg/year, which is much stronger than most of previous studies. We also developed a wetland scheme that accounts for soil carbon content, wetland fraction areas, soil temperature and humidity (with the three latter parameters varying interannually) and we evaluated the wetland areas with satellite-based estimates. Our global wetland emissions amount to about 150 Tg/year. We find a global CH4 lifetime of 10.6 years, which is in the range of values reported in previous studies. Comparing our results with different set of measurements gives promising results. The model reproduces well the year-to-year variation even if it slightly overestimates concentrations after 2000. By conducting different set of sensitivity simulations, we investigated the role of different parameters on the CH4 variations. We find that the long-term trend in CH4 is driven by a competition between anthropogenic emissions and tropospheric decay. Peaks of growth rate are driven by biomass burning emissions and to a lesser extend, wetland emissions. We find that even if we used increasing anthropogenic emissions during the 90s (that is in contradiction with some previous studies), reconstructing the observed year-to-year variation of CH4 concentrations was possible if one considers an increasing in OH during the 90s.LMC
La ville imprenable. Une histoire sociale de Constantine au 18e siècle, 2002, Paris, Editions de l’EHESS, 368 pages.
No full textInternational audienceIsabelle Grangaud offre l’une des rares études d’histoire sociale sur l’Algérie ottomane. La redécouverte d’un passé partiellement occulté par l’histoire de l’Algérie contemporaine se trouve ainsi engagée.L’enquête prend son point de départ dans l’étonnante aventure politique du gouverneur de Constantine, Sâlah Bey (1771-1792). Personnage mythique aujourd'hui encore, auréolé des fastes de l'époque ottomane, il devait connaître une fin brutale dont les conséquences sur le destin de la cité restaient à évaluer. Pour éclairer cet événement singulier, l’auteur s’est attaché à saisir les multiples pratiques observables dans la cité de Sâlh Bey : réseaux de sociabilité, règlements des litiges – notamment par la médiation des femmes – et implications sociales de la justice, modes d’affirmation d’un pouvoir urbain « autochtone ». L'image dynamique et complexe d'une ville se dessine, dans les interactions entre individus, groupes et institutions qui en tissent la trame. Isabelle Grangaud met en œuvre une histoire sociale dont les sources traduisent autant de points de vue sur une réalité en mouvement
Chemistry and climate interactions : development and evaluation of a coupled chemistry-aerosol-climate model
No full textAtmospheric trace gases and aerosols and climate interact in many ways. A quantitative assessment of the influence of trace gases and aerosols on climate can only be achieved if the interactions and feedbacks among these three major components are accounted for. The goal of this thesis was to develop, evaluate and apply the ECHAM5-HAMMOZ chemistry-aerosol-climate model. The model includes fully interactive simulations of the NOx-Ox-hydrocarbons chemistry and of the aerosol chemistry and microphysics, the two simulations being embedded into the well established ECHAM5 climate model. In particular, on-line calculation of the photolysis rates (that accounts for aerosols and clouds) and heterogeneous reactions of trace gases on aerosols are accounted for in the model. In addition, the aerosol simulation provides a prognostic representation of the mixing state of the aerosol components, a feature that is particularly important to examine the effect of the SO2 uptake and subsequent sulfate formation on aerosols. A thorough model evaluation of the model was performed using observations from the Transport and Chemical Evolution over the Pacific (TRACE-P) aircraft campaign. We also used ground based measurements from the European network EMEP (SO2 and sulfate), from the north American network IMPROVE (sulfate, black carbon and organic carbon), and from AERONET (aerosol optical depth). The coupled model is able to reproduce fairly well many of the observations over the TRACE-P region, even though some improvements are still needed. For example, we find a mean absolute bias of 20 ppbv (30%) and 40 ppbv (13%) for the simulated O3 and CO, respectively. Sulfate concentrations are represented fairly well, for all the regions considered, while SO2 is overestimated by a factor of 2 in general. Black carbon concentrations are underestimated over the TRACE-P region (mean absolute bias of 80%), most probably because of too low emissions, but well reproduced over north America. The aerosol optical depths compare well with observations at many sites in general, both in terms of annual means and seasonal variations. We show the results from a series of sensitivity simulations which goals are to assess the impact of heterogeneous reactions, photolysis reactions and sulfur chemistry on the regional and global trace gas distribution, and aerosol distribution, composition and optical properties. We found that heterogeneous reactions result in a reduction of 7% in the global O3 burden, and by up to 15% in surface O3 over regions rich in mineral dust. OH burden decreases by 10%, NO and NO2 by 20% and 29%, respectively while CO burden increases by 7%. Our numbers fall in general within the range of previous studies. We find that the effect of aerosols through the modifications of photolysis rates do not affect significantly the trace gas distributions and global burdens, while previous studies suggested larger effect. Heterogeneous reactions reduce the global mean SO2 surface concentration by 14%, while the global burden remains unchanged. This reflects the effect of competing processes. In particular, the depletion in SO2 by direct uptake on sea salt and dust is counterbalanced by the decrease in SO2 oxidation that is associated with the decrease in OH. The balance between the two competing effects differs depending on the regions (SO2 increases by more than +10% over north Africa and Indian Ocean and decreases by up to -20% at high latitudes). These processes, in turn, affect the sulfate formation. We find in general an increase (by up to 4%) in sulfate burden over the oceans because of sea salt uptake of SO2, and a decrease by up to 6% over Sahara and India, where SO2 increases. Our global burden of SO2 and sulfate amount to 0.77 and 0.87 (Tg(S)), respectively, which fall in the range of previous estimates. We find that SO2 uptake on sea salt contributes to the production of 3.69 Tg(S) yr-1 of sulfate (5% of total sulfate production) in good agreement with recent observation-based estimates. Uptake of SO2 on dust only contributes to the production of 0.55 Tg(S) yr-1 (< 1%) of sulfate, but it is an important process as it is responsible for the coating of mineral dust particles. A total of 300 Tg yr-1 of dust are transferred from the insoluble to the soluble mixed modes (56% of total emissions) because of this later process. The total burden of black carbon does not change significantly because of the heterogeneous reactions, but it is redistributed between insoluble/soluble modes. The changes in the mixing state of aerosols produce significant regional variations in aerosol optical depth and absorption. The aerosol optical depth and aerosol absorption increase by 10 to 30% and by 15%, respectively, during winter in the main polluted regions of the north hemisphere because of enhancing absorption efficiency of black carbon mixed with sulfate. On the contrary aerosol absorption decreases by up to 20% over the Atlantic ocean because of enhancing black carbon removal by wet scavenging. ECHAM5-HAMMOZ is a fully coupled model which includes many of the trace gas-aerosol and chemistry-climate interactions, and is thus a tool that allows an integrated assessment of the impact of the major short-life species that contribute to climate change and air quality.LMC
Interannual variability in tropospheric ozone and its precursors : a modeling study constrained by long-term ground-based and satellite observations
No full textTropospheric ozone (O3) is a harmful pollutant and an increasingly important green-house gas. Tropospheric O3 distributions are determined by complex and non-linear interactions between photochemistry and transport processes. The first objective of this thesis is to examine the factors that contribute to the interannual variation (IAV) of tropospheric O3 and related compounds, such as carbon monoxide (CO), for a period of 19 years (1987-2005), with a focus over the northern mid-latitudes. A series of long-term measurements, including ozonesondes, groud-based sites and satellites, are interpreted with a global chemical-transport model (GEOS-Chem) and a number of sensitivity simulations are performed to quantitatively assess the relative contribution of individual processes to the IAV of O3 and CO. We first assess the capability of the model to reproduce O3 and CO IAV. We find that the model is able to reproduce reasonably well many of the observed features of the O3 and CO IAV. The model however, fails to reproduce the observed variation in O3 in the northern mid-latitudes during the first half of the 1990s (negative anomaly in 1991-1993 followed by an upward trend in 1993-1996) which is likely due to an inadequate representation of stratospheric dynamics and stratospheric O3 concentrations in the model. This study has demonstrated that the principal drivers of O3 and CO IAV are meteorology and emissions. We examine in particular the 1998-1999 period. A large anomaly in O3 was observed at several sites over Europe and is fairly well reproduced by the model. Different processes are found to contribute to this long-lasting anomaly. The first period (spring 1998) was largely influenced by the strong preceding El Niño episode of 1997. El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) affects the stratosphere-troposphere exchange (STE) and the Asian pollution export, through a change in convective activity and a strengthening of the subtropical jet. North American pollution export was also enhanced through an increase in temperature and in photochemical activity. During the second period (summer-fall 1998), the O3 budget over Europe was influenced by both boreal wildfires and Asian pollution. Finally, the O3 anomaly during the third period (spring 1999) was affected by enhanced biomass burning emissions in Southeast Asia. We further noticed that a significant correlation exists between the Southern Oscillation Index (SO1) in fall and the European tropospheric O3 column in the following spring (R= -0.65, N=19), throughout the period from 1987 to 2005. In other words, increasing tropospheric O3 column is seen over Europe the following spring of an El Niño year. In the second part of this thesis, we used inversion methods to derive monthly NOx, emissions from GOME and SCIAMACHY space-based retrievals of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) columns for a period of 10 years (1996-2005). We calculated emission trends over the highly industrialized regions and large cities around the globe. Decreasing emissions were found in the U.S. and Europe. However, negligible or even positive trends were seen in urban areas in northeastern U.S. (e.g. Boston) and southern Europe (e.g. Lisbon, Istanbul) which are most probably due to increasing motor vehicle NOx, emissions. Furthermore, a slowdown in the decreasing trend in NOx, combustion fuel emissions over North Europe has been noticed after 2000 and especially in 2003-2004. This is probably related to a slowdown in the decrease in road transport emissions. Increasing trends, on the other hand, have been found in the combustion fuel NOx, emissions over east China (8.3% year-1), due to the fast industrial and economical development of China. In addition, we found an upward trend in soil NOx, emissions which may be related to the increasing use of fertilizers in the northeastern part of the country. Finally, we examined the influence of using two different retrievals of NO2 columns on the resulting a posteriori inventories. The inversion was carried out twice for the year 2000, using two different retrievals, one from Dalhouse/SAO and one from BIRA/KNMI. The two resulting inventories were found to correspond well globally, but show important differences (more than 60%) at specific times and regions.LMC
Sabil Kuttab of Ibrahim Bey El Kabir
No full textexterior, "Vue de la Fontaine et de l'Ecole d'Jsmayl-Bey sur la Rue Souo-el-Asr," color plate LII of Pascal Coste's "Architecture arabe; ou, Monuments du Kaire, mesurés et dessinés, de 1818 à 1826", 1818-182
Autour de l'étude des villes de la Régence d'Alger : le cas de Constantine
No full textThe A. critizes the « modèle » of islamic town used, assigned or laid on, to explain the urban process during Ottoman period within the Regency of Algiers. The case study of Constantine shows that a new urbanistic plan was developped around the erection of a new mosque and its medersa, and a market, integrating an older Jewish district ; this town planning was linked to the building of a new palace for Salah Bey (1771-1792), and his ambitious policy.L'A. critique le « modèle » de la ville islamique utilisé, imposé ou plaqué, pour expliquer l'ensemble du phénomène urbain pendant la période ottomane dans la Régence d'Alger. Le cas de Constantine montre qu 'un nouvel urbanisme se développe autour d'une mosquée et de sa medersa, mais aussi d'un marché, intégrant le quartier juif plus ancien ; il est lié à la construction du palais et à la politique ambitieuse de Salah Bey (1771-1792).Grangaud Isabelle. Autour de l'étude des villes de la Régence d'Alger : le cas de Constantine. In: Antiquités africaines, 40-41,2004. pp. 289-299
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