Geography
The Riviera is an international playground of great beauty. A visitor to these parts can
sample all altitudes,
from mountains to charming hill towns down to a coastal plain and sandy beaches. Marseille,
France's chief seaport,
and the tiny independent country of Monaco are in Riviera, as are the renowned resort cities of
Nice and Cannes. Awesome Roman ruins,
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medieval buildings, ancient olive groves, and even bullfight arenas mark the inland region of
Provence.
Many famous French artists have tried to capture Riviera luminous daylight.
Alps
The Alps and Jura Mountains boast many ski resorts. Mountain streams
have been harnessed to bring
hydroelectric power to farms and industries. A range of Alpine peaks known as the Massif du Mont Blanc soars
above 13,000 feet (3,960 m), crowned by the highest peak, Mont Blanc.
France is blessed with fertile soil and a pleasant climate. A great diversity of
land forms exist: snowcapped mountain ranges, broad plains, dense forests, windblown seacoasts, extinct
volcanic cones, ancient underground caves, and sunny Mediterranean beaches.
The country is roughly
hexagonal and covers 212,918 square miles (551,458 sq. km). It is about (600 miles (965 km) long and 600
miles (965 km) across at its widest point. Corsica, southeast of the mainland in the Mediterranean Sea,
accounts for 3,367 square miles (8,721 sq. km) of the total land area.
France's bordering neighbors are
Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany to the northeast, Switzerland and Italy to the east and southeast,
Andorra to the south, and Spain to the southwest.
Most of France's boundaries are natural the
Atlantic Ocean Bay of Biscay to the west, the English Channel to the northwest (separating France from England),
and the Mediterranean Sea to the southeast. On the mainland, the Pyrenees Mountains lead into Spain,
the Alps and lura Mountains border Switzerland, and more Alpine peaks act as a barrier between France
and Italy. The Rhine River flows between France and Germany. Where no natural barriers exist, France in
the past has been vulnerable to invasion by foreign armies.
Main Land Regions
The widely varied landscapes of mainland France can be divided into nine different regions, each with its
particular beauty.
The Brittany Normandy Hills lie in northwestern France across the eroded remains of ancient rock. Low hills
and rolling plains are covered with relatively infertile soil. The rugged coastline is dotted with many bays
and is home to both tiny fishing villages and the major seaports of Le Havre and Cherbourg.
Important products of this region include apples, used to make cider and an alcoholic drink called Calvados,
dairy foods such as Camembert cheese and Normandy butter, and fish.
Brittany, with the highest percentage of Catholic churchgoers of any French region, also has a small group of
extremist Bretons who want to separate from the rest of the country. The ancient Celtic language is still spoken
here, and mysterious standing stones recall the ancestors.
The Northern France Planis include the capital city of Paris, the cultural and intellectual center of all France.
In one sense, it is also a geographical center because all distances in France are measured from the square in front
of Notre Dame Cathedral.
Surrounding Paris is the Paris Basin, also known as the Ile-de-France. Its rich farmland and major industries
support a dense population.
Formerly important industries in this part of France include textiles in the northern city of Lille and coal mining
near the Belgian border. The metropolitan area of Lille- Roubaix-Tourcoing is one of France's largest provincial
centers, with a population of about 959,000 people.
The Northeastern Plateaus include the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine. These plateaus are crossed by the Ardennes
and Vosges mountain ranges. Farms and vineyards dominate the lower slopes and valleys. Rich iron ore deposits
and heavy forests brought lumbering and iron and steel production to the area, although mining is now in decline.
The Rhone-Saone Valley is dominated by the city of Lyon, which, like Lille and Marseille, is home to roughly 1 million
people. Lyon has been famous for many centuries for its tradition of great cooking and its silk and synthetic fabric
production.
The Massif Central is the largest of France's geographic sections, covering one sixth of the country. High granite
plateaus are cut in many places by deep gorges. Extinct volcanic cones known as puys ("PWE"), some topped with
chapels or religious statues, are a striking feature of the area. At Vichy, natural hot mineral springs have led to
the development of health spas. Its bottled mineral water is exported to distant countries.
The soil is poor in most of the Massif Central, and it is thinly populated. In recent years, many people from
this part of France have moved to Paris to look for jobs.
The Pyrenees Mountains separate France and Spain in a sparsely populated region of the southwest. Many of the
mountain peaks top 10,000 feet (3,047 m). Farmers raise cattle and sheep in this area. The Pyrenees town of
Lourdes attracts millions of Roman Catholic pilgrims, who are drawn by its reputation for miraculous cures.
The Aquititanian Lowlands region is known for its fruit orchards, the Bordeaux wine industry, oil and natural
gas fields, steel mills, and chemical factories. The seaport of Bordeaux and the aerospace industry center of
Toulouse are here. Famous brandies originate in towns of the same name: Cognac and Armagnac are two examples.
Extensive forests, rolling plains, huge sand dunes, and beaches are characteristic features of this area.
Extract from “Cultures Of The World France”, Written by Etbel Caro Gofen.
Times Editions Pte Ltd, Singapore: 1999.
Amazon eBay: This report gives an overview of the GCOS activities in France in the three domains and how
to respond to the GCOS IP. The GCOS program, which means observations for monitoring
the climate in the three domains is mainly driven by Météo-France for the atmospheric
domain, but other institutions are working in the field of climate, especially for specific
purposes (oceanography, glaciers, greenhouse gas composition, …). A number of
observations are done for research purposes, and the problem is “how to insure these
observations in the long term?”. Also, in some cases, these climate observation networks are
developed along an european structure (Framework Program), and the national level is not
pertinent ! Another item for consideration is the question of historical data, which appear very
useful to understand present and future climate (these programs are mentioned as research
programs in the National Communication and concern paleo-climatic data).
Finally the question of the GCOS program in developing countries, especially in Africa can
be considered in the frame of the programmes AMMA and RIPIECSA, which looks like to a
follow-up of AMMA. As a conclusion, the inventory of these observations for climate is
written down every five years for the National Communications for the Climate Convention,
in the chapter “Research and Systematic Observation”. The last update (4th National
Communication) can be found on the Unfccc website (www.unfccc.int, see National Reports,
or look at the following web link : www.effet-de-serre.gouv.fr/images/documents/4th National
Communication.pdf ).
Atmospheric domain
This is a domain operated by Météo-France. The whole system consists of 6 GSN stations
(surface observations) on the continental France (with messages CLIMAT sent to NCDC,
USA) and 14 ones for over-seas territories. For GUAN (altitude observations) the network
consists of 9 stations in over-seas territories (producing messages CLIMAT TEMP). 9 other
GSN stations have been defined on continental France to reproduce the effect of orography on
the climate (in the frame of ECSN project).
For chemistry of the atmosphere, there are four stations in continental France measuring
precipitation chemistry, radiation and tropospheric ozone (belonging to the BAPMON
network). Overseas ozone is measured at three sites in the frame of the NDACC network
(stratospheric and upper tropospheric ozone). Other complimentary measures of the ozone are
done in different sites located around the globe (Finland, Russia, Greenland and Brazil).
Finally the CO2 is measured (RAMCES program) in Amsterdam island, Mace Head (Ireland),
Puy de Dôme and Biscarosse, with some flasks in 12 sites located around the world. Similar
measurements are done for other green-house gases in the frame of this RAMCES program,
allowing to compute their budget over a region like Europe or America, or an hemisphere. All
these measurements contribute to the GAW network. The operating agencies are INSU-CNRS
for NDACC and LSCE for RAMCES. As an example of RAMCES measurements (Bousquet
et al., 2006) show the contribution of anthropogenic and natural sources to the atmospheric
methane variability.
Other initiatives in that field of monitoring the atmospheric composition and where France
plays a role are the following European projects : GEOMON (Geophysical fields Monitoring)
which concerns the measurements in four domains (Greenhouse gases-GHG, atmospheric
pollution, aerosols, stratospheric ozone); MACC (Monitoring Atmospheric Composition and
Change), which is the follow on of GEMS (2005-2009) and which try to build a high-level
monitoring of GHG, reactive gases and aerosols, including data-assimilation and multi-model
forecasting. A last point to be mentioned is the french involvment in the Integrated Carbon
Observing Strategy (ICOS).
Oceanic domain
The French contribution to oceanographic observation for climate comes under the GOOS
system (Global Ocean Observation System) and contains the following measurement systems:
voluntary and occasional observation ships, ocean gauges (GLOSS network), floating and
anchored weather buoys and, finally, sub-surface floaters like ARGO (Coriolis Project). We
also maintain the PIRATA observation system (anchored buoys) in the tropical Atlantic ocean
and TAO for the Pacific ocean. We would like to emphasize the operational direction of
ocean observation, with Mercator modelling projects, the Coriolis observation project, which
have been integrated in the data assimilation experiment GODAE (2003-2005). The seven
French agencies involved in oceanography (CNES, CNRS, IFREMER, IPEV, IRD, Météo-
France and SHOM) are joining forces to develop a complete and coherent system of
operational oceanography based on three projects : satellite altimetry (JASON), global
numerical modelling with assimilation (MERCATOR) and in situ measurements (Coriolis).
The Coriolis project allows to construct an operational structure for acquiring, collecting,
validating and distributing world ocean data (temperature, salinity and current profiles)
responding to the needs of modellers (MERCATOR) and of the scientific community (under
CLIVAR). For main results of this project see Mercator website (www.mercator-ocean.fr).
Terrestrial observations
The Global Terrestrial Network (GTN) deals with observation of mountain glaciers, and
measurements of carbon fluxes linked to terrestrial ecosystems (FLUXNET). Mountain
glaciers are thus studied in numerous parts of France (five glaciers) and abroad, in particular
by LGGE, IRD and CEMAGREF. The Observatory GLACIO-CLIM, which is labelled as
“Observatoire de Recherche en Environnement”, consists of monitoring some glaciers on
different latitudes (which implies different regimes). The sites concerned are in mainland
France (5 glaciers), in Bolivia and Ecuador, in Antarctica (2 glaciers). An example of the
monitoring of four glaciers in France we refer to (Vincent, 2002). For the Observatory
Glacio-Clim see the Web site : www.lgge.ujf-grenoble.fr/ServiceObs/. France is also actively
participating in measuring carbon fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems (6 sites with different land
cover) carried out under the international programme Fluxnet, and the various programmes
connected with the Carboeurope project group. The Carboeurope integrated project aims to
determine the role of european continent in the global carbone cycle. The agencies involved in
this program are : INRA, CNRM, LSCE… An example of such measurements is given in
(Ciais et al., 2006) concerning the heat and drought event of summer 2003 in Europe. More
specific experiments have recently been conducted in the SouthWest France (Les Landes,
May-June 2005, Dolman et al., 2006) with various land cover. Finally forest ecosystems have
also been systematically observed by the National Forestry Inventory (IFN) every ten years
for almost forty years, through a mechanism put in place after the damage caused by acid rain.
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France Physical Geography
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