Kristel Chanard receives the AGU’s John Wahr Early Career Award

Kristel Chanard is a research scientist at IGN and a member of the Geodesy team at IPGP. Her research work lies at the interface between geodesy, geophysics and hydrology. In particular, she contributes to the development of hydrogeodesy, an emerging discipline that aims to better understand the evolution of water resources by combining geodetic observations and modelling of hydrological processes.

To fully exploit the potential of geodesy for studying the hydrological cycle, it is crucial to gain a better understanding of the Earth’s rheological behaviour, on which geodetic measurements depend. Kristel has distinguished herself by using geodetic observations to analyse the response of the solid Earth to variations in hydrological loading. Her aim is to characterise and model rheology coherently across spatial and temporal scales.

She also explores the wider implications of hydrologically induced deformations for the Earth system. In particular, she is interested in studying the interactions between hydrological forcing and earthquakes, which can provide important information on the physical processes associated with the seismic cycle.

Because her work is largely based on observations, she attaches great importance on improving geodetic data. She is actively involved in data acquisition, in the development of advanced processing methods, and in the realisation of the International Terrestrial Reference Frame, which forms the basis of geodetic measurements. She is also involved at the national and international level in the development of geophysical data networks and the research that benefits from them, notably through her participation in the Earthscope Consortium.

Last year, Kristel Chanard received the Geodesy Division Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award from the EGU for her contributions to determining and understanding the deformations of the Earth’s surface. This double recognition underlines the impact of her work and her ongoing commitment to the advancement of geodesy and geophysics.