The project PHYMOR aims at studying environmental variability of altitudinal lacustrine systems from the Moroccan Middle Atlas. The main objectives are to:

- To understand hydrological functioning of the hydro-systems and their sensitivity to climate changes;

- To propose a calibration between hydro-climatic parameters and paleo-proxies;

- To reconstruct paleo-hydrological variability based on geochemical studies of lacustrine sediments.

Within the frame of R. ADALLAL PhD-thesis, the first objective was addressed at site Aguelmam Azigza using site monitoring, water isotopic analysis and hydrological modelling.

The water balance of the lake assumes that the volume change is controlled by the rate of inflows from all sources (precipitation, runoff), minus the water loss (evaporation and groundwater outflows).

This water balance requires the knowledge of the lake area–volume-level relationships that were determined by using:

1) A high-resolution elevation model of Azigza watershed using the RTK-GPS combined with the assessment of topographic map scanned

2) A bathymetric map of lake

3) A survey of water level of Azigza lake

Water level logger:

The instrument used for measuring lake level is Diver Dataloggers that is composed of two units:

1) - The CTD Diver (X: W5°26'59.11''; Y: N32°58'35.20''; Z: 1542 m asl) that measures at the same time pressure of water, temperature and conductivity of water.

2) -The Baro Diver (X: W5°27'09.13''; Y: N32°58'30.54''; Z: 1570 m asl) is used to compensate for variations in the atmospheric pressure.

Data measurements: one hour time step.

Meteorological data:

In collaboration with LMI-TREMA (IRD), a meteorological station (X: W5°27'09.13''; Y: N32°58'30.54''; Z: 1570 m asl) has been installed (precipitation, temperature, atmospheric moisture, solar radiation and wind speed).