Got some time after the Science Conference ends? Why not visit an ICOS station or take a balloon ride and soak in the Paris vista? Our conference partners at LSCE have organised some excellent excursions for Friday 13th September!
Please note that the exact times and contents of these excursions are subject to change at the discretion of ICOS ERIC.
Excursion 1: ICOS Forest Ecosystem Station Barbeau in the Fontainebleau Forest
Date: Friday September 13th (full day)
Cost: 50 €
Capacity: 20 people
Departure: 9:00 am
The ecosystem station of Barbeau (Fr-FON) is located close to the city of Fontainebleau, 53 km south east of Paris in the middle of a large forest of sessile oaks with an understory of hornbeam. It is the only forest studied in the Ile de France region. On the observation site, trees reach up to 30 meters which represents one the highest forests studied over Europe. The observation site is contains a 35m tower equipped with several instruments and sensors enabling complete monitoring of the local ecosystem (including CO2 and water fluxes as well as micro-meteorological parameters). You will have the opportunity to have a guided tour of this forest site with the PI scientists responsible for this monitoring site.
Programme:
- 9:00: Departure by bus from Versailles (Palais des Congrès)
- 10:30: Arrival in Front of the Fontainebleau forest, welcome from the station PIs.
- 10:40: Roughly 20 minute walk in the forest to reach the station (about 800m). Please wear suitable walking shoes and long trousers (to prevent insect bites). Please be aware that the site is not accessible for people with reduced mobility.
- 11:00 - 12:30: Ecosystem station visit, presentation of the scientific context and studies and presentation of the station equipment used by the station to study the forest ecosystem.
- 12:30 - 13:00: Walk back to the bus. Departure of the bus.
- 13:00 - 13:20: Transfer to picnic area at “Aire du Plessis-Picard Ourdy”. Lunch (bring your own food or you could find some in the Aire de repos along with restrooms).
- 14:00: Return to Versailles by bus
- 15:30: Arrival in Versailles (Palais des Congrès)
Tower at Barbeau Ecosystem station (photo by Konsta Punkka)
Excursion 2: ICOS Cropland Ecosystem Station Grignon
Date: Friday September 13th (half a day)
Cost: 25 €
Capacity: 20 people
Departure: 9:00 am.
The ecosystem station of Grignon (Fr-GRI) is located 40 km west of Paris in an area mostly dedicated to agriculture. Depending on the meteorological conditions (mainly wind speed and direction) pollutant emissions for the city of Paris can be transported to the site. The monitoring station was set up in 2004 and mainly focuses on the land atmosphere exchange within an agricultural context (depending on the plants grown each year). A complete eddy covariance system is running on site. The site also takes advantage of the nearby experimental farm from AgroParisTech which enables additional field experiments (for example linked with agricultural greenhouse gases emissions, VOC or reactive gases). You will have the opportunity to have a guided tour of the full experimental site with the PI scientists responsible for this monitoring site.
Programme:
- 9:00: Departure by bus from Versailles (Palais des Congrès)
- 9:30: Site visit including a presentation of the measurements taken on site and a tour of the farm. Please wear suitable hiking shoes and a waterproof jacket.
- 11:00: Free time for example to buy products from the farm's shop.
- 11:30: Return to Versailles by bus
- 12:00: Arrival in Versailles
Excursion 3: ICOS-cities Paris: Flight over Paris with the Generali balloon
Date: Friday September 13th (half a day)
Cost: 20 €
Capacity: 60 people (SOLD OUT)
Departure: The meeting point will be close to where the balloons will lift off in Paris, Parc André Citröen - 75015 Paris, at 9:00 am. The participants are encouraged to use public transportation to reach the site, as there will be no separate bus connection organised.
Paris is one of the three pilot cities included in the EU-funded ICOS Cities project. Within this project, in addition to high precisions classical observation stations inside and around Paris (7 reference sites), numerous sites have been equipped with mid-cost sensors inside Paris (mainly for GHG concentrations and fluxes measurements, but also for reactive gases and VOC) on high points such as towers and skyscrapers. In addition, the LSCE team has equipped the Generali balloon with several sensors to monitor the GHG gradient during balloon flight. You will have the opportunity to fly over Paris (up to 150m high) with an amazing view over the French capital and get a summary of the ongoing observations in Paris within the ICOS-Cities project by French scientists.
Programme:
- 9:00 Meeting on site in Parc André Citröen - 75015 Paris
- 9:00–12:00: The balloon is flying all day long (except in bad weather conditions). We will organise several flights coupled and talks during the day for groups of 20 at a time. The duration of the full excursion will be 90 minutes to 2 hours per group.
We would like to thank LI-COR for sponsoring this excursion. For more information about their instrumentation, please visit their vendor booth in the Mazarin hall of the conference venue.
Excursion 4a: Visit of ICOS ATC and LSCE
Date: Friday September 13th (full day)
Cost: 25 €
Capacity: 30 people
Departure: 9:00 by bus from Versailles (Palais des Congrès)
LSCE is one of the largest and well known French laboratories working on climate and environmental topics. It hosts more than 350 people, mainly scientists from CEA, CNRS and Versailles St Quentin University and is located on the main campus of the Paris Saclay University. The research conducted at LSCE is a mix of modelling work (using a large variety of models, from simple ones to Global coupled earth system models) and experimental work (instrumental analyses, measurements and in-situ observations). LSCE also hosts the ICOS Atmospheric Thematic Centre (ATC) where both instrumental work (test lab) and data treatment are developed for the whole ICOS network. We offer you to discover the research conducted at LSCE through guided visits of different LSCE facilities (such as paleoclimate reconstruction, paleomagnetism, modeling etc), the ATC and the ICOS-France atmospheric networks.
Program: We will split the whole group into 3 sub-groups to visit LSCE and ATC.
- 9:00: Departure by bus from Versailles (Palais des Congrès)
- 9:45 - 12:00: Visit of LSCE and ATC
- 12:00 - 14:00: Lunch (bring your own food)
- 14:00 -15:00: Visit of LSCE and ATC
- 15:30: Return to Versailles
Excursion 4b: Escape game and visit of LSCE
Date: Friday September 13th (full day)
Cost: 25 €
Capacity: 20 people
Departure: 9:00 by bus from Versailles (Palais des Congrès)
LSCE is one of the largest and well known French laboratories working on climate and environmental topics. It hosts more than 350 people, mainly scientists from CEA, CNRS and Versailles St Quentin University and is located on the main campus of the Paris Saclay University. The research conducted at LSCE is a mix of modelling work (using a large variety of models, from simple ones to Global coupled earth system models) and experimental work (instrumental analyses, measurements and in-situ observations). LSCE has developed an escape game which takes place inside the marine core storage room located in the cave of the CNRS castle at Gif sur Yvette (2 km from LSCE). You will learn in a fun way everything you always wanted to know about climate from past to present.
Programme:
We will split the whole group into 2 sub-groups and propose one visit of LSCE while the other sub-group is playing the escape game.
- 9:00: Departure by bus from Versailles (Palais des Congrès)
- 9:45 - 11:45: Visit of LSCE and escape game
- 12:00 - 13:00: Lunch (bring your own food)
- 13:00 -15:00: Visit of LSCE and escape game
- 15:30: Return to Versailles