Jean Bienvenu Dinga

• Managing Director at GRSEN, Ministry Scientific Research, Congo Rep.

Space weather science has been a growing field in Africa since 2007. This growth in infrastructure and human capital development has been accompanied by the deployment of ground-based observing infrastructure, most of which was donated by foreign institutions or installed and operated by foreign establishments. However, some of this equipment is no...

The Congo and Amazon are the two largest rivers on Earth and serve as major sources of dissolved organic carbon to the ocean. We compared the dissolved organic matter (DOM) composition of both rivers using Fourier‐transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry to investigate seasonal and regional differences in DOM composition exported to the...

This research work deals with the physico-chemical analysis of the surface water of the Djiri river with the aim of preventing the population against possible water pollution. The analysis of the samples collected in the Djiri river revealed the presence of lead in these waters at levels exceeding the WHO guideline values: an average annual polluti...

In November 2017, floods in Impfondo, Congo forced evacuations and damaged crops, homes, and roads. The World Food Programme (WFP) supported the government’s response by providing food aid but was delayed by one month due to inadequate information. To enable faster flood response, WFP partnered with Cloud to Street to develop a near real-time Congo...

Pyrogenic organic residues from wildfires and anthropogenic combustion are ubiquitous in the environment and susceptible to leaching from soils into rivers, where they are known as dissolved black carbon (DBC). Here we quantified and isotopically characterized DBC from the second largest river on Earth, the Congo, using 12 samples collected across...

The flux and composition of carbon (C) from land to rivers represents a critical component of the global C cycle as well as a powerful integrator of landscape‐level processes. In the Congo Basin, an expansive network of streams and rivers transport and cycle terrigenous C sourced from the largest swathe of pristine tropical forest on Earth. Increas...

We present dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations, particulate organic matter (POM) composition (δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N, ∆¹⁴C, N/C), and particulate glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether (GDGT) distributions from a 34-month time-series near the mouth of the Congo River. An end-member mixing model using δ¹³C and N/C indicates that exported POM is consiste...

We discuss concentrations of dissolved CH4, N2O, O2, NO3⁻ and NH4⁺, and emission fluxes of CH4 and N2O for river sites in the western Congo Basin, Republic of Congo (ROC). Savannah, swamp forest and tropical forest samples were collected from the Congo main stem and seven of its tributaries during November 2010 (41 samples; wet season) and August 2...

We discuss concentrations of dissolved CH4, N2O, O2, NO3- and NH4+, and emission fluxes of CH4 and N2O for river sites in the western Congo Basin, Republic of Congo (ROC). Savannah, swamp forest and tropical forest samples were collected from the Congo main stem and seven of its tributaries during November 2010 (41 samples; “wet season”) and August...

We report concentrations of dissolved CH4, N2O, O2, NO3− and NH4⁺, and corresponding CH4 and N2O emissions for river sites in savanna, swamp forest and tropical forest, along the Congo main stem and in several of its tributary systems of the Western Congo Basin, Republic of Congo, during November 2010 (41 samples; ''wet season'') and August 2011 (2...

The Congo River in central Africa represents a major source of organic matter (OM) to the Atlantic Ocean. This study examined elemental (%OC, %N, C:N), stable isotopic (δ13C, δ15N) and biomarker composition (lignin phenols) of particulate OM (POM) and dissolved OM (DOM) across the seasonal hydrograph. Even though the Congo exhibits an extremely sta...

The concentrations, distributions, and stable carbon isotopes (δ13C) of plant waxes carried by fluvial suspended sediments contain valuable information about terrestrial ecosystem characteristics. To properly interpret past changes recorded in sedimentary archives it is crucial to understand the sources and variability of exported plant waxes in mo...

We review the published results on the Congo Basin hydrology and summarize the historic and ongoing research. Annual rainfall is ~1900 mm/yr along an east-west trend across the basin, decreasing northward and southward to ~1100 mm/yr. Historic studies using lysimeters, pans, and models suggest that the annual potential evapotranspiration varies lit...

The concentrations, distributions, and stable carbon isotopes (d13C) of plant waxes carried by fluvial suspended sediments contain valuable information about terrestrial ecosystem characteristics. To properly interpret past changes recorded in sedimentary archives it is crucial to understand the sources and variability of exported plant waxes in mo...

The Congo River basin drains the second largest area of tropical rainforest in the world, including a large proportion of pristine wetlands. We present the bacteriohopanepolyol (BHP) inventory of a suite of tropical soils and, from comparison with published data, propose some initial ideas on BHP distribution controls. Strong taxonomic controls on...

Methane (CH4) is a strong greenhouse gas known to have perturbed global climate in the past, especially when released in large quantities over short time periods from continental or marine sources. It is therefore crucial to understand and, if possible, quantify the individual and combined response of these variable methane sources to natural clima...

Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and inorganic carbon (DIC and pCO2), lignin biomarkers and the optical properties of dissolved organic matter (DOM) were measured in a gradient of streams and rivers within the Congo Basin (Republic of Congo), with the aim of examining how vegetation cover and hydrology influences the composition and concentration of...

1] Seasonal variations in inorganic carbon chemistry and associated fluxes from the Congo River were investigated at Brazzaville-Kinshasa. Small seasonal variation in dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) was found in contrast with discharge-correlated changes in pH, total alkalinity (TA), carbonate species, and dissolved organic carbon (DOC). DIC was a...

Methane (CH4) is a major greenhouse gas and although its production by human activities now exceeds that by natural sources, the single largest source in the global CH4 budget is natural production in wetlands. Recent studies have highlighted the potential importance of tropical regions as a significant source of tropospheric CH4 although large unc...

Tropical rainforest systems exhibit the highest riverine dissolved organic carbon (DOC) fluxes to the oceans globally. Despite this, surprisingly few studies have investigated the spatial variability in dissolved organic matter (DOM) concentrations and composition within tropical rainforest catchments. Moreover, little information exists as to how...

Résumé : Le projet "International Space Weather Initiative" (2010-2012), s"inscrit dans la continuité du projet Année Héliophysique Internationale AHI (2007-2009). Ces deux projets sont suivis par la commission des Nations Unis pour les applications pacifiques de la Science à l"Espace (http://www.oosa.unvienna.org). Dans notre exposé, nous présente...