Reception of the St3ART project team at the Soufflerie de Luminy

From April 25 to 27, the large wind-wave tunnel of Luminy (LASIF-IOA) hosted the team of the St3ART project (read 'Street Art'), which aims to measure the surface height by a combination of instruments (acoustic altimeter and micro-LIDAR). Wind tunnel measurements are used as a calibration bench for these instruments, which will then be installed (1) under a multitude of bridges in order to improve flood forecasting (vigicrues.gouv.fr plan), and (2) on ships, in order to pass under the track of altimeter satellites like Sentinel-3A and 3B. The quality of the measurements already collected and compared is very encouraging, regarding the qualification of the instruments. The team should come back soon, in the context of the Sentinel-6 satellites and the future SWOT.

The team: Michel Calzas and Karim Mahiouz (DT-INSU, la Seyne sur mer), Pascal Bonnefond (Astronomer at SYRTE, Paris observatory), Jean-Christophe Poisson (Vortex-IO company, Toulouse), Lionel Fichen (DT-INSU, Brest), Olivier Laurain (Geoazur, Sofia-Antipolis), and Jean-Jacques Fourmond (direction of the DT-INSU)

The meticulous preparation of the experiment on the Luminy side and its conduct were ensured thanks to the assistance of Mr. Christopher Luneau (OSU-Pytheas), Ms. Elpida Vonta (M2 at MIO), Ms. Laure Cossalter (M1 at MIO), and Mr. Hubert Branger (ex IRPHE, Marseille)  

MIO contact : D. Bourras

Illustration: generation of a scelerate wave (surface waves focused on a point) at the time of its breaking. At the time of its passage, the variations of height of the free surface are recorded by a wave probe, and by remote sensing instruments installed on the roof of the wind tunnel by the company VORTEX_IO, and the DT-INSU of the CNRS, within the framework of the project St3ART