Welcome to my personal webpage!
SODA cruise, September 2018.Photography by San Nguyen.
About me
I am an Assistant Professor affiliated to the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences (CIMS) at New York University (New York (NY), USA), in a joint position as a Courant Instructor and a Simons Foundation Fellow, currently working on erosion and shape formation of solid bodies by flows (at the Applied Maths Laboratory (AML)), and on wave turbulence (within the Simons Collaboration on Wave Turbulence). I hold a Ph.D. degree in Physics, undertaken under the joint-supervision of Philippe Odier (ENS de Lyon, Lyon, France) and Thomas Peacock (MIT, Cambridge (MA), USA). It focuses on experimental and theoretical aspects of axisymmetric internal waves strongly related to oceanographic applications, e.g. in the Arctic Ocean. My main research interests are in fluid mechanics and geophysical applications, amongst which physical oceanography, closely related to environmental issues.
Recent Highlights
November 2022 -- Sculpting the Sphinx has won the Milton van Dyke poster award at the 2022 APS DFD Gallery of Fluid Motion!
October 2022 -- Double-diffusive staircase stratifications are key to understand energy tranfers in the oceans. Our observational survey in the Arctic has just been published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans to help shed light on this intriguing phenomenon.
August 2022 -- Our article on Random Walks Through Poetry is featured in cover of Digital Creativity!
February 2022 -- The recording of my seminar given on February 4 at the EHESS (École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales) is now online.
December 2021 -- Check out my new online poster gallery!
October 2021 -- I have been awarded the Prix de Thèse Systèmes Complexes by the Institut des Systèmes Complexes de Paris IdF (ISC) for my Ph.D. work, as a transdisciplinarity and multi-scale research.
October 2021 -- I have been choosen to be the Joseph B. Keller fellow for the academic year 2021--2022 at the Courant Institute.
September 2021 -- The Applied Maths Seminars have started at Courant!
September 2021 -- Our numerical and theoretical work on convection in a mushy layer, discussing how a vertical heat flux drives convection and buoyant plumes in a mush, has been published in Journal of Fluid Mechanics.
September 2021 -- Our study reporting observations on axisymmetric wave attractors (linear regime, triadic resonant instability, and even weak inertial wave turbulence) combining experiments and numerics has been published in Journal of Fluid Mechanics.
July 2021 -- I have been awarded the Prix Daniel Guinier by the Société Française de Physique (SFP) as a recognition of the work undertaken during my Ph.D. More information on the SFP website, the ENS website, and on the Laboratoire de Physique website.
June 2021 -- Our experimental work on the generation of axisymmetric internal wave super-harmonics through non-linear self-interaction has been published in Physical Review Fluids.
April 2021 -- Our collaborative paper led by Jennifer A. MacKinnon from Scripps Institution of Oceanography (University of California San Diego, San Diego (CA), USA), entitled A warm jet in a cold ocean, has been published in Nature Communications this April. Check out the press coverage for more information (e.g. on Scripps Website The "heat bombs" destroying Arctic sea ice).
Current and Former Research Topics
Delving into the Arctic Ocean
Recent records over the past decades have shown that the Arctic is warming up faster that ever, with its ice cover shrinking and leaving its quiescent waters unprotected. Warm jets, flows, and eddies, are redistributing heat content in this now rapidly evolving region that directly witnesses the impact of global warming.Some of these results have recently been published in Nature Communications (A warm jet in a cold ocean); a shorter article is also available on Scripps Website (The "heat bombs" destroying Arctic sea ice).Works in collaboration with, among others, C. Jeon (Pusan National University, Pusan, South Korea), T. Peacock (Environmental Dynamics Laboratory, Cambridge (MA), USA), J.A. MacKinnon and M.H. Alford (Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Sand Diego (CA), USA). These projects are part of the ONR funded program Stratified Ocean Dynamics of the Arctic (SODA).
Sculpting with Fluids and Flows
Landscapes around the world are subject to erosion processes, that shape coastlines, valleys, canyons, mountains, etc. Whether interacting with rain falls, rivers, oceans, or the atmosphere, geophysical structures are constantly (re)sculpted by fluids and flows. By conducting experimental surveys with erodible clay in a water tunnel, we intend to broaden our understanding of these geomorphological processes.Work in collaboration with L. Ristroph (Applied Math Laboratory, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York (NY), USA).
Exploring Wave Turbulence
When a large number of waves are interacting they lead to a complex frequency spectrum and can no longer be studied separately but their statistic description, however, can be investigated through the Wave Kinetic Equation. This recent theory is a very active research field, and has numerous applications such as the understanding of surface wave turbulence, energy redistribution by internal gravity waves, or meteorological forecasting.Work in collaboration with J. Shatah and O. Bühler (Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York (NY), USA). This research is part of a broader project funded by the Simons Foundation (Simons Collaboration on Wave Turbulence)
A Mushy Source for the Geysers of Enceladus
Enceladus is a tiny moon of Saturn on which hydrothermal activity has been detected. At the South pole, cracks are the source of giant geysers of liquid water. With a theoretical and numerical study, we model the tidal forcing on the crack as a local heat flux, melting the ice into a mushy region in which convection can be the source of geysers.Work in collaboration with C.R. Meyer (Dartmouth College, Darmouth, USA), G.M. Vasil (University of Sidney, Sidney, Australia), and A. Wells (Oxford University, Oxford, UK). This project was started during the GFD 2019 Summer School in Woods Hole (MA), USA.
Non-Linear Interactions of 3D Internal Waves
In axisymmetric geometry, non-linear wave-wave interactions are no longer 2D. We show that the non-linear waves created, either sub-harmonic or super-harmonic, are fully 3D and are constraint by the dispersion relation of internal waves.Work in collaboration with P. Odier (Laboratoire de Physique de l'ENS de Lyon, Lyon, France) and T. Peacock (Environmental Dynamics Laboratory, Cambridge (MA), USA).
Internal Wave Tunneling
Internal gravity waves can propagate in media with a buoyancy frequency greater than their own wave frequency. Inclusion of a region of constant density in a stratification, as it is common in the oceans, should provide the waves from propagating further down. This unstratified layer, however, behaves as a potential barrier through which the waves can tunnel.Work in collaboration with P. Odier (Laboratoire de Physique de l'ENS de Lyon, Lyon, France), T. Peacock (Environmental Dynamics Laboratory, Cambridge (MA), USA), and B.R. Sutherland (University of Alberta, Edmonton (AB), Canada).
Enhancing 3D Internal Waves Attractors
Inertial wave generation in a trapezoidal axisymmetric domain enhances an internal wave attractor that preserves the revolution symmetry. Vertical cross-sections show energy focusing in the inner attractor branches and defocusing in the outer ones. Horizontal cross-sections show symmetric pattern being destabilised through a discrete orthoradial mandala-like pattern, before being fully non-linear.Work in collaboration with P. Odier, T. Dauxois, S. Joubaud (Laboratoire de Physique de l'ENS de Lyon, Lyon, France), E. Ermanyuk, N. Shmakova (Lavrentyev Institute of Hydrodynamics, Novosibirsk, Russia), I. Sibgatullin (Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia), and Leo R.M. Maas (Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands).
Whither the Chukchi Slope Current?
Deployment of five SOLO ALAMO floats in the core of the Chuckchi Slope Current during the Stratified Ocean Dynamics of the Arctic (SODA) cruise in September 2018 helps to understand how warm and fresh water fluxes coming from the Bering Strait exit the Chukchi Sea.Work in collaboration with T. Peacock (Environmental Dynamics Laboratory, Cambridge (MA), USA), P. Odier (Laboratoire de Physique de l'ENS de Lyon, Lyon, France), J.A. MacKinnon (Scripps Institude of Oceanography, San Diego (CA), USA), R.S. Pickart and P. Lin (Woods Hole Institute of Oceanography, Woods Hole (MA), USA), M. Li (Guangdong Ocean University, Guangdon, China), and H.L. Simmons (School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, Fairbanks (AK), USA).
Challenging Axisymmetric Internal Waves
Inertia-gravity waves are excited in a fully axisymmetric geometry, using a Bessel shaped generator in a confined domain. In linear stratifications, modes and cavity resonance effects are enhanced. In non-linear stratifications, we delve further into propagation and transmission properties.Work in collaboration with P. Odier (Laboratoire de Physique de l'ENS de Lyon, Lyon, France) and T. Peacock (Environmental Dynamics Laboratory, Cambridge (MA), USA).
Forcing the Bénard-Von Kármán Instability
Plasma actuators placed above and under a horizontal cylinder in an air flow produce an efficient forcing of the Bénard-Von Kármán instability. The corresponding phase diagram shows behaviours as theoretically predicted by the asymptotic development of the Stuart-Landau equation.Work in collaboration with J. D'Adamo, G. Artana (Laboratorio de Fluidodinámica, Buenos Aires, Argentina), B. Thiria, R. Godoy-Diana, and J.-E. Wesfreid (Laboratoire de Physique et Mécanique des Milieux Hétérogénes, Paris, France).
Understanding the Moving Bottleneck
Slow-moving obstacles can reduce traffic flow and congest roads by creating a moving bottleneck. Numerical simulations and on-board data sensors confirmed this traffic issue on high roads.Work in collaboration with A. Nantes and E. Chung (Smart Transport Research Center, Brisbane, Australia).
Experiencing the Antlion Trap
Systematic experimental study of slipping cylinders of various sizes, weights, and materials, helps to investigate the stability phase diagram of close to avalanche slope phenomena. It models the antlion trap, a conical hole in granular soil dig by the antlion larvae to catch insects and bugs.Work in collaboration with J. Crassous (Institut de Physique de Rennes, Rennes, France), J. Casas, and A. Humeau (Institut de Recherche sur la Biologie de l'Insecte, Tours, France).