Oceanic convection remains poorly understood even though it is one of the main driver of the oceanic dynamics. Convection can be penetrative (entrain water from below the mixed layer) or non-penetrative. While it is reasonably straightforward to formulate conceptual parameterizations of non penetrative convection in idealized settings, it remains challenging to extend the formalism to realistic settings of penetrative convection even for state of the art ocean models. In fact the most advanced parameterization schemes for oceanic convection are still calibrated based on atmospheric data. Moreover these parameterizations do not take into account the rotation of the earth which can substantially impact the individual and collective behavior of convective plumes.
The first objective of this PhD thesis is to build an observational database of convective events on the Coriolis Platform (the largest rotating tank of the world). We will complement this dataset with numerical simulations to explore many types of surface forcing and initial conditions. We will then combine these observations and model outputs with a robust theoretical framework to build a consistent parameterization of oceanic convection.
This thesis topic is aimed at a student interested in ocean dynamics, in the realization and analysis of laboratory experiments and in the analysis of high resolution simulations. A master’s degree in physical oceanography, meteorology, climate science, or geophysical fluid mechanics is required. Knowledge in large database analysis tools (e.g. Python) will be a plus
Mentoring: B. Deremble, J. Sommeria
Institut des Géosciences de l’Environnement (IGE), Laboratoire des Écoulements Géophysiques et Industriels (LEGI), Grenoble