Environmental and/or societal issues

Topic 3

With the benefit of scientific results and findings that are obtained in marine-environment physics from the two other team topics, this topic addresses environmental and societal issues. For instance, we explore the modelling abilities for the optimization of survey systems against hazards and disturbances such as marine submersions and storm surges, extreme events (tsunamis and freak waves), jellyfish outbreaks, macro-waste accumulations, CO2 dispersion and contaminants in coastal urban areas. Beyond modelling, the team abilities in oceanographic observations (observation networks) can also be useful for operational oceanography (data assimilation) and applications to marine engineering (e.g., the use of currents for guiding boats). Another component of this topic lies in the framework of global change. In particular, this team is involved in the quantification of carbon sequestration by physical and biochemical pumps as influenced by hydrodynamics and coastal contributions, alongside the evolution of marine ecosystems, in the Mediterranean Sea. In this same context, new methods for extracting energy from oceans are explored. Clearly, the extraction of energy from the swell and currents, and the study of fluid-structures interactions in a floating-aeolian framework are considered as the main research approaches in this domain.

To achieve these objectives, the team activity is based on strong synergy between in-situ measurements (including high frequency and resolution), laboratory experiments, and modelling in hydrodynamics and is coupled with physics/biogeochemistry. Indeed, the team uses and develops advanced equipment (MVP, OCARINA, large wind-wave tanks and basins), contributes to national marine observation networks (TRANSMED, MOOSE, SOMLIT, HTMNET, etc…), and has acknowledged abilities in the electromagnetic remote sensing of the marine environment and in processing of radar (HF and microwave) and satellite data, alongside hydrodynamical (CROCO, NEMO-GLAZUR, etc…) and biogeochemical (Eco3M) modelling.