A fluctuation dissipation theorem for air-sea interaction

Titre : A fluctuation dissipation theorem for air-sea interaction

Laboratoire de rattachement : LEGI/MEIGE

Encadrant : Achim WIRTH

Téléphone : 06 32 97 64 64

Mots clés : air-sea interaction, fluctuation-dissipation theorem, non-equilibrium statistical mechanics

Contexte et objectifs de la mission de stage : Air-sea interaction is a key process in the dynamics of the atmosphere, the ocean and the climate system. Preliminary results show, that the fluctuation-dissipation theorem can be used to describe the dynamics of the atmosphere-ocean system when both layers are described by 2D Navier-Stokes models. When they are replaced by quasi-geostrophic models the system might undergo a glass transition due to geometric frustration as suggested by Moulin & Wirth (2016).
The project consists in studying this phenomena with a 1+1-layer high-resolution numerical quasi-geostrophic (spectral) model. The upper layer represents the atmosphere and the lower layer the ocean. The layers differ by their inertia and the Rossby radius of deformation. The upper layer is subject to a restoring force towards a prescribed velocity field. The interaction between the layers is due to fluxes of momentum parameterized by a quadratic drag law.

ref : Moulin & Wirth 2016 Boundary-Layer Meteorology, 160, pp 551568

Prérequis : geophysical fluid dynamics or physics or applied mathematics