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The OMERE observatory is based on the comparison between two mediterranean hydrosystems : one located in France and the other one located in Tunisia. They are similar from a climatic and environmental conditions but different in terms of land use and human activities.

For further information, go to the OMERE website at the bottom of this page.

Profile :

The OMERE observatory is present in two countries : France and Tunisia. Its experimental sites are located in the French department of l’Hérault and on the Cap Bon peninsula in Tunisia. The first one, Roujan, was started in 1992 thanks to the AIP ALEGRO research program and Kamech in Tunisia was started in 1994 thanks to the EU INCO HYDROMED program. Certified in 2003 as Long terme research observatory, the OMERE observatory is part since 2010 of the SOERE RBV network. Five research organizations work in the OMERE observatory : INRA, IRD, CNRS in France and INRGREF and INAT in Tunisia.

RECOTOX site characteristics :

Located in France (34), the Roujan site covers 91 ha whereas the Tunisian site, Kamech, covers 263 ha. These two catchments are similar with respect to climatic conditions (mediterranean climate characterised by a wide range of hydrological processes ranging from severe droughts to intense floods), but differ according to the change in land use they are submitted to. In the Kamech catchment, cereals, legumes and irrigated market gardening are mainly cultivated and a progressive intensification of agriculture occurs with a full use of the area available for agriculture and an increasing application of fertilizers and pesticides. In the Roujan catchment characterised by wine growing, intensification of agriculture has already been operated for a few decades and has led to the creation of a network of ditches and human made slopes.

Contribution to RECOTOX dynamics :

The OMERE observatory is dedicated to Mediterranean agricultural environments (including wine growing) and analyses the effects of climate and land use change on soil and water resources for identifying sustainable agricultural management approaches. Agricultural practices and hydrological observation facilities have been studied for about twenty years, especially the monitoring of pesticide fate. This enables to have a good knowledge of the catchments’s initial state for many different parameters. The OMERE observatory also supports the development of the modeling platform OpenFluid and of the agrohydrological model MHYDAS, dedicated to the simulation of the impacts of scenarios of land use management on water resources.

Contact :

• Jérome MOLENAT, jerome.molenat@inra.fr,
• Marc VOLTZ, marc.voltz@inra.fr,
• Anatja SAMOUELIAN, anatja.samouelian@inra.fr

Website :

• Presentation : http://www.obs-omere.org/
• Data : http://www.obs-omere.org/index.php?page=data&lang=fr
• Metadata : http://www.obs-omere.org/index.php?page=geonetwork&lang=fr

Hosting organization : UMR LISAH INRA / IRD / Supagro