Research scientist (chargé de recherche) at INRAE in Biostatistics and Spatial Processes (BioSP) team.
Member of the chair GEOLEARNING.
Contact information:
Domaine St. Paul, 228 route de l'Aérodrome, 84914 Avignon (France).
Email: lionel.benoit@inrae.fr
Researcher ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8182-0152
Research interests:
I study the spatiotemporal statistics of weather at the local scale, their linkages with climate, and their impacts on hydro-systems. Within the climate system I have a particular interest for rainfall.
Instruments:
- Environmental Sensor Networks (ESNs) [2, 1]
- Low-cost and ephemeral rain gauge networks [16, 13, 11, 6]
- Close-range remote sensing (UAV surveys, weather radars) [18, 8, 3]
Methods:
- Space-time geostatistics [21, 6]
- Stochastic weather generators [20, 15]
- Statistical meteorology [10, 7]
Applications:
- Statistical enhancement (quality-check, filtering, interpolation, gap-filling) of in-situ data (ESNs, weather stations) [23]
- Data fusion (e.g., radar + rain gauges, crowdsourced + reference data) [22, 12]
- Characterization and simulation of rainfall space-time bevahior, with focus on orographic effects and intermittency [18, 17, 5]
- Hydro-meteorology and ecohydrology [19,13]
- Other earth surface processes (landslides, glaciers, birds) [14, 9, 4, 3, 2]
Publications:
[23] Benoit L, Lucas M, Allard D, Kodama K, Giambelluca T (PrePrint), A non-stationary trans-Gaussian model for daily rainfall over complex topography, EGUsphere, 2025-2181, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2181
[22] Organ E, Upton M, Allard D, Benoit L, Sweeney J (PrePrint), Enhancing the Accuracy of Spatio-Temporal Models for Wind Speed Prediction by Incorporating Bias-Corrected Crowdsourced Data, https://arxiv.org/pdf/2505.24506
[21] Allard D, Benoit L, Obakrim S (PrePrint), Modeling and simulating spatio-temporal, multivariate and nonstationary Gaussian Random Fields: a Gaussian mixtures perspective, HAL ⟨hal-05034982⟩, https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-05034982
[20] Obakrim S, Benoit L, Allard D (PrePrint), A multivariate and space-time stochastic weather generator using a latent Gaussian framework, HAL ⟨hal-04715860⟩, https://hal.science/hal-04715860v1
[19] Jaouen T, Benoit L, Héraut L, Sauquet E (PrePrint), Are rivers becoming more intermittent in France? Learning from an extended set of climate projections based on the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 (CMIP5), EGUsphere2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2737
[18] Benoit L, Koch E, Peleg N, Mariethoz G (2024), Precipitation-elevation relationship: non-linearity and space-time variability prevail in the Swiss Alps, Journal of Hydrology X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hydroa.2024.100186
[17] Benoit L, Sichoix L (2023), Sub-daily rainfall patterns in the mountainous regions of the Island of Tahiti: insights from a one-year rain gauge network expansion, Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies, 50, 101559, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2023.101559.
[16] Peleg N, Torelló-Sentelles H, Mariethoz G, Benoit L, Leitão J, Marra F (2023), Brief communication: the potential use of low-cost acoustic sensors in short-term urban flood warnings, Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, 23, 1233–1240, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-1233-2023.
[15] Benoit L, Sichoix L, Nugent A, Lucas M, Giambelluca T (2022), Stochastic daily rainfall generation on tropical islands with complex topography, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 26, 2113–2129, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-2113-2022.
[14] Nussbaumer R, Bauer S, Benoit L, Mariethoz G, Liechti F, Schmid B (2021), Quantifying year-round nocturnal bird migration with a fluid dynamics model, Journal of the Royal Society Interface, 18, 20210194, https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2021.0194.
[13] Michelon A, Benoit L, Beria H, Ceperley N, Schaefli B (2021), Benefits from high-density rain gauge observations for hydrological response analysis in a small alpine catchment, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 25, 2301-2325, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-2301-2021.
[12] Benoit L (2021), Radar and rain gauge data fusion based on disaggregation of radar imagery, Water Resources Research, 27, e2020WR027899, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020WR027899.
[11] Benoit L, Lucas M, Tseng H, Huang Y-F, Tsang Y-P, Nugent A, Giambelluca T, Mariethoz G (2021), High space-time resolution observation of extreme orographic rain gradients in a Pacific Island catchment, Frontiers in Earth Science: Hydrosphere, 8, 546246, https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2020.546246.
[10] Benoit L, Vrac M, Mariethoz G (2020), Nonstationary stochastic rain type generation: accounting for climate drivers, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 24, 2841-2854, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-2841-2020.
[9] Nussbaumer R, Benoit L, Mariethoz G, Liechti F, Bauer S, Schmid B (2019), A geostatistical approach to estimate high resolution nocturnal bird migration densities from a weather radar network, Remote Sensing, 11, 2233, https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11192233.
[8] Benoit L, Gourdon A, Vallat R, Irarrazaval I, Gravey M, Lehmann B, Prasicek G, Graff D, Herman F, Mariethoz G (2019), A high-resolution image time series of the Gorner Glacier – Swiss Alps – derived from repeated UAV surveys, Earth System Science data, 11, 579-588, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-11-579-2019.
[7] Benoit L, Vrac M, Mariethoz G (2018), Dealing with non-stationarity in sub-daily stochastic rainfall models, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 22, 5919–5933, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-5919-2018.
[6] Benoit L, Allard D, Mariethoz G (2018), Stochastic Rainfall Modeling at Sub-kilometer Scale, Water Resources Research, 54, 4108-4130, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018WR022817.
[5] Benoit L, Mariethoz G (2017), Generating synthetic rainfall with geostatistical simulations, Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water, https://doi.org/10.1002/wat2.1199.
[4] Lombardi D, Benoit L, Camelbeeck T, Martin O, Meynard C, Thom C (2016), Bimodal pattern of seismicity detected at the ocean margin of an Antarctic ice shelf, Geophysical Journal International, 206, 1375–1381, https://doi.org/10.1093/gji/ggw214.
[3] Benoit L, Dehecq A, Pham H-T, Vernier F, Trouve E, Moreau L, Martin O, Thom C, Pierrot-Deseilligny M, Briole P (2015), Multi-method monitoring of Glacier d’Argentiere dynamics, Annals of Glaciology, 56, 118-128, https://doi.org/10.3189/2015AoG70A985.
[2] Benoit L, Briole P, Martin O, Thom C, Malet JP, Ulrich P (2015), Monitoring landslide displacements with the Geocube wireless network of low-cost GPS, Engineering Geology, 195, 111-121, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2015.05.020.
[1] Benoit L, Briole P, Martin 0, Thom C (2014), Real-time deformation monitoring by a wireless network of low-cost GPS, Journal of Applied Geodesy, 119–128, https://doi.org/10.1515/jag-2013-0023.
Most of the software related to the above papers is open-source and freely available in my GitHub repository: https://github.com/LionelBenoit
Vita:
Since 2021: Research scientist at INRAE-BioSP (Avignon, France).
2020-2021: Post-doctoral research fellow at University of Hawai‘i - WRRC (Honolulu, USA) and University of French Polynesia - GePaSud (Puna'auia, French Polynesia).
2015-2019: PhD student at University of Lausanne - IDYST - Gaia Lab (Lausanne, Switzerland). Thesis: High resolution stochastic modeling of local rain fields.
2011-2014: PhD student at the French mapping agency (IGN) - LASTIG (Saint-Mandé, France) and Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris - Laboratoire de Géologie (Paris, France). Thesis: Real-time deformation monitoring by a wireless network of low-cost GPS.
2008-2010: Engineering School student at Ecole Nationale des Sciences Géographiques (Le Mans and Champs-sur-Marne, France). Thesis: Reprocessing of the French national gravimetric network.
Before 2008: Born and raised in Epinal (Northeastern France), hence my interest for rainfall, rivers, mountains and birds :-).