Through the prism of mechanics, this course proposes an introduction to the workings of the climate machine. This machine is set in motion by the difference in solar heating between the equator and the poles. The atmosphere and ocean are its components and regulators, transporting the equatorial surplus of energy to the poles. This makes them the vectors for transporting water, energy and chemical compounds, and places them at the heart of the planet's environmental issues, on every scale of space and time.
The role of these two flows contrasts: the atmosphere determines the spatial organization of temperatures or precipitation on the planet, but has very little memory; the ocean, on the other hand, has considerable inertia (dynamic, thermal) and organizes the temporal fluctuations of climate.
Despite these differences, ocean and atmosphere are similar in terms of the physical principles that set them in motion: their vertical extension is small compared to their horizontal extension, their characteristics vary greatly in the vertical direction, and their slowness makes them sensitive to gravity and the effects of the planet's rotation. The study of their motion calls on dimensionless numbers (Rossby number), models (Boussinesq, quasi-geostrophic), reasoning (Lagrangian conservation) and conserved quantities (potential vorticity, angular momentum) that are quite different from those that form the core of "ordinary" fluid mechanics. As such, it forms a specialized branch of fluid mechanics known as geophysical fluid dynamics.
In 2024/2025, course materials will be given in English.
- Teaching coordinator: Belabbes Souad
- Teaching coordinator: Dubos Thomas
- Teaching coordinator: Fromang Sébastien
- Teaching coordinator: Podglajen Aurélien