Nouragues Station
NETRS

Geographical location

Regina, French Guiana Coordinates (Inselberg site) : 4°05’ N – 52°41’W

Established

October 1986

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Environmental context and issues

The Nouragues station, managed by the CNRS, is located in an area dedicated to scientific research of 9,000 ha in the heart of the Nouragues Nature Reserve in French Guiana. It is a privileged place for studying the functioning of the undisturbed Amazon rainforest (from soil to canopy) and its biodiversity. The Nouragues station is organized into two research sites, 8 kilometers apart:

• The Inselberg site, located at the foot of the inselberg (special geological formation) Balenfois,
• the Pararé site located near the Arataye river.

Services

These advanced tropical forest sites offer full board accommodation and can accommodate around fifty people (25 people on each site maximum). Accommodation and catering facilities are basic (open huts, sleeping in hammocks) but adapted to the specificity of the environment. The sites are powered by solar and hydroelectric power and have an internet connection. They are equipped with meteorological stations and various long-term monitoring (biomass, forest dynamics, litter fall, hydrological monitoring) are carried out there. Laboratory spaces equipped with basic scientific equipment are made available to researchers. Access to the forest is provided by a grid of paths allowing you to move around without getting lost.

Access to services

These two well-preserved sites are only accessible by canoe (Pararé site) and / or helicopter (Pararé and Inselberg sites). They provide full board accommodation and secure accommodation for scientists for stays of a few days to several months. Missionaries are supervised on site by qualified personnel who provide site maintenance and security. Communication to the stations is provided by VHF, and to the outside via an internet connection and satellite phone.

Technological innovation

The station allows researchers to access a tropical ecosystem preserved from human activities and to conduct their studies there with all the necessary instruments.