Physical, Littoral and Coastal Oceanography team (OPLC)

See the team's publications

Our research themes

Energy exchange in the ocean takes place through a large number of physical processes associated with different spatio-temporal scales and dimensions. Our subjects of study encompass the climatic scale, the meso- to (sub)mesoscale and even microstructure turbulence. These dynamic structures are found at the surface as well as at depth and at interfaces (air/sea, coast/offshore) and are coupled together by energy cascades.

The objectives of the laboratory's physics team are to study multi-scale processes and their interactions in ocean dynamics and with the atmosphere.

Our team has a very wide range of instruments and models, each of which provides a fragmented view of this ocean of energy: in situ measurements, radar remote sensing measurements, coastal sensor networks, numerical circulation models. It has also recently adopted new tools such as spatial data analysis and artificial intelligence methods, the latter providing new paradigms for data analysis.

Our main objective is to merge these data in order to fill in the missing scales, link them together and thus gain a more complete four-dimensional view of the processes involved. This more global approach will enable us to address issues that are important both from a scientific point of view and because of their implications for current societal and climate issues (heat and matter transport dynamics, natural hazards, extreme events, etc.).

These research objectives can be broken down into several areas of study:

The OPLC team is based mainly at the Marseille-Luminy and Toulon-La Garde campuses. It has testing and instrumentation facilities at both sites, as well as sensor networks in the region:

The large wind tunnel at OSU Pytheas (Marseille-Luminy),
Hydrodynamic basins shared with the SEATECH engineering school (Toulon-La Garde),
HTMNET sensor network,
HF radar network in the Toulon region
Instrumentation for campaigns at sea Instrumented moorings (ADCP, ex JULIO next to the Parc National des Calanques off Marseille).

Recent or current theses

2019-2022: Dylan Dumas (CA Guérin) New signal processing techniques for radio-oceanography.
2020 - 2023: Caroline Comby (S. Barrillon, A. Petrenko) Vertical velocities and fine-scale dynamics.
2021 - 2024: Alix Limoges (J. Piazzola) High resolution modelling of aerosol dynamics in the Mediterranean coastal zone.
2021-2024: Alexandra Cuevas (V. Rey, F. Ardhuin) Estimation of the properties of a vertically sheared current from the dispersion of surface gravity waves.
2021 - 2024 : Natacha Bourg (A. Molcard & A. Schaeffer): Interactions between edge currents, fronts and eddies in the North Current and the East Australian Current. Transport dynamics and application to the drift of Physalia spp.
2022-2025: Elisabeth Chevillon (B. Zakardjian, A. Bosse, P. Lherminier) Characterisation of the mesoscale variability of the circulation in the mesopelagic zone in the North Atlantic and its connections with surface dynamics.
2023 - 2026: Maxime Arnaud (A. Petrenko, S. Barrillon) Vertical velocities and fine scales in the north-western Mediterranean.
2024 - 2027: Lucie Chauché (A. Molcard & A. Caceres): Impact of climate change on transport dynamics in the Caribbean Sea.
2024 - 2027: Charlotte Cunci (Y. Ourmières & A. Molcard): Monitoring the dispersion and stranding of plastic and biomedia in the Mediterranean Sea.
2024 - 2027: Ambroise Delisée (S. Bonnet and A. Petrenko) DIAZO-PUMP - Role of diazotrophs in the biological carbon pump: deciphering biological (gravitational pump) and physical (vertical velocities) export pathways using a combination of innovative methods/sensors operating at high frequency (PPR thesis).

Projects in progress

Theme 1 (Coastal oceanography)

Marittimo Seastemar Interreg France-Italy project, 2024-2026, 400kE (Anne Molcard, Yann Ourmières, Alejandro Caceres). The project addresses the risks to navigation associated with the presence of large cetaceans and sensitive species, as well as unpredictable meteorological and maritime phenomena, including variability linked to climate change. The team's main task is to analyse the data acquired during the previous programme, from a hydrological and ocean dynamics point of view, in order to link them to observations of marine mammals. The fusion of data (numerical models, satellite and in situ observations) will provide a classification of species distribution as a function of meteorological and marine scenarios.

CNES-SFUSVEL 2023-2025 100kE (Alejandro Caceres, Anne Molcard) The aim of the project is to reconstruct/identify/validate satellite surface current data (altimetry and Sentinel SAR), using HFRADAR observations, numerical simulations and learning methods.

Marittimo VAGUE Interreg France-Italy project, 2025-2027 (Alejandro Caceres, Anne Molcard, Vincent Rey), 286 ke. The aim of the project is to develop an innovative system for the conversion of wave energy in the Mediterranean Sea, using laboratory scales and numerical simulations.

ANR OMTeDNA 2023-2027 , (Yann Ourmières, Anne Molcard), 98 ke. The aim of the project is to develop passive environmental DNA sensors for monitoring megafauna around anthropised areas such as wind farms. Numerical ocean modelling and Lagrangian modelling are used to identify the origins and trajectories of DNA signals collected by sensors deployed in different environmental conditions.

TPM ENTEM project 15 kE (Yann Ourmieres). The aim of the project is to improve understanding of the transport and stranding of pelagia noctulica jellyfish in the Mediterranean Sea. A numerical Lagrangian approach as well as in-situ trajectories of drifting floats are used, along with a multi-year database of the presence of jellyfish along the coastline. Hydrodynamic and meteorological conditions are combined to provide a better understanding of mass stranding processes.

Group SIMED (MEDiterranée simulations)

Theme 2: Waves, currents and coastal processes

ANR ROSMED "Surface Wave Radars in the Mediterranean". 2023-2025 (CA Guérin, D. Dumas, A. Molcard, A. Caceres), PI MIO/ONERA, 162 ke MIO. The aim is to exploit for oceanography the exceptional capabilities of the Surface Wave Radar installed by ONERA at the Salins du Midi. This radar, designed to detect ships at long range, can be used to map currents with excellent azimuth resolution and will cover a large part of the Gulf of Lion up to 300 km from the coast.

Theme 3: Flows at the air/sea interface

ANR ASTRID PRAMAG (PI: Boris Conan LEHAA), €99k MIO. Study of the wind profile in the surface oceanic marine boundary layer and analysis of the differences between profiles measured by LIDAR and those derived from Monin-Obulhov theory, as a function of wave characteristics and atmospheric thermal stratification.

Theme 4: Bio-geo-physical coupling

HOPE-VV HOw Physical processes affect ocean CO2 capturE focus on Vertical Velocities - PI A. Petrenko, AMIDEX projectStudy of the intensity of VVs and their temporal variability at high frequency (hour) by deploying a set of 5 physical moorings (including a 5-beam Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler -ADCP-) ; of the spatial variability of VVs across physical structures (e.g. eddy cores, fronts, filaments...) by carrying out 5-beam ADCP profiles in free-fall (to obtain the best possible measurement of VVs) and by deploying the new VVProfile in free-fall (to obtain the best possible measurement of VVs).) by performing 5-beam ADCP profiles in the free crust (to get the best possible VV measurement) and deploying the new upgraded VVProfiler with programming that can target selected layers (mixing layer boundary, DCM...) during seasonal ocean expeditions around selected contrasting environments (off New Caledonia).

CNES TOSCA 2023-2026 project, GLISS Using gliders to expand SWOT satellite currents measurements, 22k€ (A. Bosse, A. Petrenko). The project proposes to help collect measurements by underwater gliders during the SWOT satellite Calibration/Validation phase in order to study the geostrophic currents signal under the satellite swath repeated daily from April 2023 to July 2023. The project has two study regions: the north-western Mediterranean and the Nordic Seas, where two long-term observation systems regularly deploy gliders (MOOSE and NorEMSO respectively).

CNRS LEFE-IMAGO 2023-2025 project, DISTURB-SWOT DISentangling TURBulence and fine-scale processes: a combined in situ/satellite approach during SWOT CalVal period, 36.5k€ (A. Bosse, A. Petrenko, S. Barrillon). The aim of this project is to carry out microstructure turbulence measurements by underwater glider during the BioSWOT-Med campaign in April 2023 in order to study the large-scale cascade towards turbulent kinetic energy dissipation in the context of the new SWOT satellite measurements and during a campaign focusing on the coupling between physics and biogeochemistry and biology.

MOOSE National Observation Service accredited by the CNRS-INSU since 2010, MIO budget 60k€/year (A. Bosse, A. Petrenko, C.A. Guerin, B. Zakardjian). This observation system carries out long-term monitoring of the physical, biogeochemical and biological systems of the north-western Mediterranean. MIO and OSU Pytheas are in charge of several SNO MOOSE sites: repeated glider radial T02 (Marseille-Minorque), MOOSE-GE large-scale annual campaign and monthly CTD station at the ANTARES site, atmospheric deposition collection at Frioul, HF radars at Toulon and Nice, JULIO mooring at the entrance to the bay of Marseille).

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Mediterranean Institute of Oceanology