Vertical exchanges inside the water column and at its interfaces

The scientific research in this topic aims to better represent the vertical exchanges inside the water column and at its atmospheric and benthic interfaces.

The formulations used in circulation models to describe vertical mixing within the water column (turbulence, convective mixing, etc.) need to be improved. This approach requires in situ measurements to be able to propose new formulations or parameterisations, and to assess their influence on the representation of coastal upwellings, river plumes, winter convective mixing, or vertical horizontal velocity profiles, using the numerical models implemented at different scales in the team.

Similarly, the mathematical description of the surface and bottom boundary layers is often limited to an empirical formulation in circulation models. The development of new formulations of friction in the bottom boundary layer using theoretical and experimental studies, and their evaluation within the various numerical models mentioned above, is another area of research for the team.

At the level of the ocean-atmosphere interface and the boundary layers located on either side of this interface, the team's research aims to refine the characterisation of mass flows (in particular carbon dioxide and water), momentum and heat by taking into account the dynamics of this interface (swell, wind waves and their breaking, etc.) in the quantification of these flows. Analysis of the physics of this interface and its interaction with electromagnetic waves will also be aimed at improving oceanographic measurements using radar remote sensing, in particular by identifying new geophysical variables that can be measured at a distance from the surface ocean and/or its interior, and improving the spatial and temporal resolution of these measurements.