https://globxblog.github.io/ Recent content on globXblog Hugo -- gohugo.io en-au Tue, 17 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://globxblog.github.io/blog/recover/ Tue, 17 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://globxblog.github.io/blog/recover/ RECOVER is the research unit I am working in, and it recently celebrated its tenth birthday. This provided an opportunity to illustrate its research activities by creating the RECOVER soundtrack. https://globxblog.github.io/blog/eaufeu/ Sat, 26 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://globxblog.github.io/blog/eaufeu/ In France, year 2022 witnessed severe drought conditions, leading to very low flows in rivers starting in the spring and widespread wildfire occurrences in summer. https://globxblog.github.io/blog/reperes-de-crues/ Thu, 01 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://globxblog.github.io/blog/reperes-de-crues/ Flood risk assessment relies on hydrometric stations (sometimes called streamgages) that monitor river discharge, i.e. the amount of water flowing in rivers every hour or day. https://globxblog.github.io/blog/hegs/ Mon, 17 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://globxblog.github.io/blog/hegs/ Observed data are essential to understand, quantify and predict the risk posed by extreme climatic events. In the case of floods or heavy precipitation, such data take the form of long series measured at stream gauging or weather stations. https://globxblog.github.io/blog/hydrological-soundscapes/ Thu, 09 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://globxblog.github.io/blog/hydrological-soundscapes/ The seasonality of flows in a river is an important part of its identity. Many studies start by displaying a chart similar to the one below to identify high-flow and low-flow seasons at a glance. https://globxblog.github.io/blog/rhythm-of-flood-occurrences/ Fri, 04 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000 https://globxblog.github.io/blog/rhythm-of-flood-occurrences/ “This was a 100-year event”. This type of sentence is often heard in the news after a flood or a storm hits somewhere, as it does a good job at carrying the rarity of what happened. https://globxblog.github.io/blog/fetedelascience2022/ Thu, 15 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0000 https://globxblog.github.io/blog/fetedelascience2022/ Avant de s’écouler dans la rivière, l’eau suit un long périple au sein de la surface de collecte des eaux appelée bassin versant (en rouge ci-dessous). https://globxblog.github.io/blog/antarctica/ Wed, 23 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000 https://globxblog.github.io/blog/antarctica/ Some time ago we’ve been lucky enough to receive the postcard below from the Mc Murdo Dry Valleys, in Antarctica (thank you so much Kaelin! https://globxblog.github.io/blog/hci/ Fri, 29 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://globxblog.github.io/blog/hci/ In a previous post, we illustrated a widely used method called principal component analysis (PCA). This method can be used as an exploratory tool to summarise a dataset made of hundreds or thousands of time series into just a few ‘summary’ time series called principal components. https://globxblog.github.io/blog/pca/ Sun, 11 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://globxblog.github.io/blog/pca/ In hydrology, it is frequent to analyse long time series coming from many sites. The figure below shows monthly streamflows at 207 sites in France for the period 1969-2014. https://globxblog.github.io/blog/world-floods/ Sun, 28 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://globxblog.github.io/blog/world-floods/ The Global Streamflow Indices and Metadata Archive describes hydrological regimes all over the World. A subset of around 2000 stations over the period 1903-2016 is used in the HEGS project to study floods at the global scale. https://globxblog.github.io/blog/scatterplot-transformer/ Tue, 09 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://globxblog.github.io/blog/scatterplot-transformer/ In the fun with dendrograms post, a linear dendrogram is gradually bent into a full circle. This transformation isn’t specific to dendrograms and can be applied to any dataset. https://globxblog.github.io/blog/about-the-logo/ Mon, 25 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://globxblog.github.io/blog/about-the-logo/ The globXblog logo is a colourful doughnut that mimics an equaliser, referring to the sonification and visualisation part of the blog. In its core, a stormy icon represents the hydrological part of the blog. https://globxblog.github.io/blog/hydrology-basics-1/ Thu, 10 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000 https://globxblog.github.io/blog/hydrology-basics-1/ How does water end up flowing in rivers? As schematized below, it is the result of processes that have taken place in the river basin, also known as a catchment and delineated by a red line in the figure. https://globxblog.github.io/blog/transforming-a-distance-matrix-into-a-map/ Sat, 19 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000 https://globxblog.github.io/blog/transforming-a-distance-matrix-into-a-map/ The map in the figure below shows the location of 195 hydrologic stations, which can be used to explore the hydrologic regimes of Australian rivers. https://globxblog.github.io/blog/el-ninoz/ Wed, 26 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000 https://globxblog.github.io/blog/el-ninoz/ The Pacific Ocean sometimes catches a fever in its Eastern tropical part (off the coasts between Central America and Peru): for extended periods of time, its surface waters are abnormally warm. https://globxblog.github.io/blog/fun-with-dendrograms/ Mon, 20 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0000 https://globxblog.github.io/blog/fun-with-dendrograms/ A dendrogram is a way to visualise objects organised in a hierarchy. It looks like a tree where: the leaves represent the objects of the dataset; the branches link similar leaves according to a given criterion. https://globxblog.github.io/blog/australian-hydrologic-regimes/ Tue, 07 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0000 https://globxblog.github.io/blog/australian-hydrologic-regimes/ Investigating the hydrologic regime of 195 rivers in Australia revealed three types of flow seasonality. At some stations, the wettest period occurs during one particular season (winter or summer), whereas at others, similar flows are observed all year round. https://globxblog.github.io/blog/sonification-sequencing/ Sun, 05 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0000 https://globxblog.github.io/blog/sonification-sequencing/ Sounds triggered by events The map below shows the main flood events of 2019, their duration and the size of the flood-affected area (for further discussion of this dataset, see the post Sonification techniques: mapping data to pitch and volume). https://globxblog.github.io/blog/australian-river-cruises/ Sun, 21 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0000 https://globxblog.github.io/blog/australian-river-cruises/ Plotting hydrologic regimes Most hydrologic studies start by determining the average quantity of water in rivers and how it is distributed throughout the year. https://globxblog.github.io/blog/sonification-pitch-volume-mapping/ Sun, 14 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0000 https://globxblog.github.io/blog/sonification-pitch-volume-mapping/ Mapping data to visual or auditory properties A common visualization technique is to use the color or size of symbols to represent data. The bubble map below shows an example. https://globxblog.github.io/blog/sonification-intro/ Sun, 26 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0000 https://globxblog.github.io/blog/sonification-intro/ What is data sonification? Sonification refers to the transformation of data into sound, using some algorithmic process. Here are three examples worth a thousand words: https://globxblog.github.io/about/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://globxblog.github.io/about/ Why this blog? globXblog was developed as part of the HEGS project which studied floods and intense precipitations around the world. Rather than describing the project’s results in details, the blog focuses on having fun with climate data using visualisation and sonification techniques to look at them from a different angle. https://globxblog.github.io/hegs/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://globxblog.github.io/hegs/ Objectives Hydrologic extremes (floods and intense precipitations) are among Earth’s most common natural hazards and cause considerable loss of life and economic damage. Despite this, some of their key characteristics are still poorly understood at the global scale. https://globxblog.github.io/fetedelascience2022/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://globxblog.github.io/fetedelascience2022/ Avant de s’écouler dans la rivière, l’eau suit un long périple au sein de la surface de collecte des eaux appelée bassin versant (en rouge ci-dessous).