Camille Mazoyer defended her thesis on the subject of Modelling pollutant flows and transport in the Toulon roadstead, 4 February 2019 at the University of Toulon.
The entire MIO staff warmly congratulates her!
The Jury was composed of :
- Mr Christophe MAES, Research Fellow, Université de Bretagne Occidentale-IRD (France), Rapporteur
- Mr Christophe LETT, Director of Research, IRD France Sud (France), Rapporteur
- Mr Marcello MAGALDI, Researcher, ISMAR-CNR, (Italy), Examiner
- Ms Anne MOLCARD, University Professor, University of Toulon (France) , Thesis supervisor
- Mr Cédric GALUSINSKY, University Professor, University of Toulon (France) , Thesis co-supervisor
- Mr Yann OURMIERES, Senior Lecturer, University of Toulon (France) , Co-supervisor
Abstract
This thesis looked at hydrodynamic processes in a semi-enclosed bay such as the Rade de Toulon and their importance for the dispersion of dissolved contaminants.
For this study, a very high-resolution configuration (100 m spatial resolution) called TBAY100, based on the MITgcm ocean circulation model, was set up. Multi-model nesting was carried out to achieve this resolution, starting with a NEMO-GLAZUR64 configuration 1.3 km from the north-western Mediterranean and then NEMO-NIDOR 400 m from the Var coast, in order to correctly force the boundaries of TBAY100. Initially, a mathematical analysis was used to quantify the energy exchanges for a simplified system. This was then extended to the Rade de Toulon to gain a better understanding of the exchanges at the open boundaries of the domain. This configuration was then validated with various observations, including ADCP data and trajectories of drifting geolocatable floats. Typical circulation patterns dependent on hydrodynamic and meteorological conditions were identified.
Secondly, our research focused on pollutant distribution processes, based on chemical samples, mainly copper released by antifouling paints. Contamination hypotheses (sources and rates) were the subject of collaborative work with a chemistry team. The transport of contaminants was analysed using passive tracers implemented in TBAY100 and resulted in 4 pollutant dispersion patterns indicating an export either to the North Current or to the Port-Cros National Marine Park, as well as a retention of pollutants in the Grande Rade de Toulon. This model could have other important societal applications, as it could serve as a tool for predicting currents and contaminant dispersion in the Toulon Harbour.
Key words Semi-enclosed bay, coastal circulation, wind-directed circulation, contaminant dispersion, MITgcm, Rade de Toulon