| The Atmosphere and the Ocean are a coupled system. They constantly exchange heat, mass, momentum and energy. Since the air-sea interface comprises approximately 70% of the earth surface, it is clear that the study of these air-sea fluxes and the physics that governs them is crucial to many global and sometimes pressing problems.
The exchanges of momentum, heat,
and mass (gas, spray, and bubbles) between the atmosphere
and the ocean must necessarily transfer through
the surface layers and the rates at which they do
may be greatly influenced by the dynamics involved.
And while attention has, in the past, focused on
larger-scale longer-term phenomena, the mechanisms
involved in small-scale mixing remain rather poorly
understood. In fact, very little is known about
their intermittent nature, which may very well dominate
the long-term behavior of the upper layers of the
ocean. For example, recent studies suggest that
bubbles generated by breaking waves, might be responsible
for a large fraction of the air-sea gas transfers.
At the Air-Sea Interaction Laboratory, we focus on the study of small-scale phenomena (breaking waves, sea-spray, rain, turbulence…) and how they drive the multiple air-sea transfers. We use a combination of state-of-the-art experimental techniques in the large wind-wave-current facility, as well as field experiments and numerical studies. Please check-out our list of selected publications. |
