The atmosphere and ocean are at the heart of the planet's environmental issues, on every scale of space or time, as they are the vectors for the transportation of water, energy and chemical compounds. The role of these two fluids contrasts them: the atmosphere, which moves very quickly, determines the spatial organization of temperatures and precipitation on the planet, but has very little memory; the ocean, on the other hand, has considerable inertia (dynamic, thermal) and organizes temporal fluctuations in climate.
They are similar in terms of the physical principles that set them in motion: both the atmosphere and the ocean are fluids that have little vertical extension, are highly stratified in density (because they are heated), and move on a rotating sphere by predominantly horizontal motions. The description of their motion is an important branch of what is known as geophysical fluid mechanics. Coriolis forces and pole-equator contrasts are responsible for the fact that atmospheric and oceanic circulation are primarily organized on a global scale.
This course is a Mechanics course, but also provides an introduction to certain environmental topics: weather forecasting, climate change or, to a lesser extent, contamination and air quality.
This course is accessible without prerequisites, although it requires a slightly greater effort from students who have not previously taken any Mechanics module.
Course language: French
- Teaching coordinator: Deremble Bruno
- Teaching coordinator: Dubos Thomas
- Teaching coordinator: Fromang Sébastien
- Teaching coordinator: Le Treut Hervé
- Teaching coordinator: Podglajen Aurélien