Contenu du sommaire

The crossing of the Alps: a story of different scales and interests, marriage and divorce. The crossing of the Alps over the last two millennia has assumed very different forms and has recently taken on a magnitude that was unimaginable at the time of the Roman Empire. A comparison of old and contemporary forms of alpine crossing lends itself to the identification of a few analogies and general trends : the nesting of the geographical scales at which crossings have been planned and implemented ; the adjustment to and detachment from the infrastructures of the mountains themselves; and lastly the marriage then divorce between the local populations on the one hand and the companies and institutions that organise the traffic from a distance on the other.

Alpine crossings, towns and regions: the paradox of speed. The article proposes a qualitative model of the historical evolution of relations between traffic and urbanisation in the Alps. In general, the development of alpine towns has largely been based on the slowness of the traffic passing through them and their regions, and loss of this traffic has often meant a complete loss of autonomy. Today, many towns and regions in the Alps are tending to become residential or leisure areas for the peri-alpine metropolitan regions. However, at the same time, the major transalpine motorways are being subjected to rapidly increasing flows of heavy goods vehicles (resulting in the fatal accidents of recent years in the Mont-Blanc, Tauern and St. Go- thard tunnels). This situation calls for international regulations, particularly regarding the transfer of goods traffic from the roads to the railways. Three major factors are associated with this recent evolution: the speed of transport through the Alps, the flexibility of road transport, and the growing demand for transport in the extra-alpine regions in a context of increasing economic competition, just-in-time industrial production, and freer movement across European borders.

Foreigners in Switzerland: Issues and territorial realities. The article aims to clarify certain ideas on the territorial aspects of xenophobia in Switzerland, at the national, regional and local levels. Statistical data on the structure of the Swiss population since 1950, together with the most recent of the popular polls on Swiss policy towards immigrants, provide valuable geographical insights into the current debate and help identify more clearly the underlying themes of identity, immigration, integration and, more generally, the multicultural societies of today and tomorrow. The statistical tool should not be used, however, without careful consideration being given to the ever-present risks of interpretation and over-simplified schématisation. At a moment when the first data from the ten-year Swiss census are available, it is well to remember that the control of numbers is the key to population policies and may, in addition, contribute to a clarification of the social and political debate.

Glacier mass balance monitoring using satellite remote sensing: the example of the Glacier Blanc (Écrins Massif, France) for the period 1985 to 2000. The aim of the report is to reconstruct mass balance fluctuations for the Glacier Blanc for the period 1985-2000, using satellite remote sensing. To do this, the linear variation in mass balance db/dz near the equilibrium line was analysed. Using satellite images taken at an appropriate date, Equilibrium Line Altitude (ELA) variations over two consecutive years were transformed into mass balance fluctuations. This method can be used to calculate variations in mass balance over wide areas, particularly where few direct mass balance measurements are available. The method was tested on the Glacier Blanc (in the Écrins Massif) mainly because of its proximity to the glaciers of Sarennes and Saint Sorlin (Grandes Rousses Massif), which have been monitored respectively from 1949 and 1957. Over the study period as a whole, the results obtained are consistent. The data for mass balance fluctuations for the Glacier Blanc and the glaciers of the Grandes Rousses Massif are relatively similar and of an identical order of magnitude. The differences are essentially due to the dates when the images were obtained.