4th Nonlinear Processes in Oceanic and Atmospheric Flows

I am a member of the Ice and Climate Group and associated with the Complexity Group.
My fields of interest are in climate research, turbulence, meteorology, complex systems, time series analysis and statistical physics.

We combine experimental, numerical and theoretical tools using a fully multidisciplinary approach. This implies collaborating with molecular biology, bioinformatics and ecology teams. The research is supported by national and international programmes. Presently a large part of the research is made in the collaborative framework of the Tara Oceans project (http://www.embl.de/tara-oceans/start/).

My scientific interests cover a wide range of topics in geophysical fluid dynamics, climate and on the composition of the atmosphere. The list of my past and present works span the statistical theory of turbulence in rotating fluids, the vortices in geophysical fluids, the synoptic weather regimes, the ozone chemistry, the transport and mixing in the atmosphere, the tropical convection, the impact of the volcanic and wildfire plumes. My works combine observation, modelling and theory. .

More on my research soon on a new dedicated page. In the mean time, look at my list of publications.

Amala Mahadevan is a Senior Scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and faculty in the MIT/WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography. She earned a Ph.D. in Environmental Fluid Mechanics from Stanford University and was a postdoctoral associate at the University of Chicago. Her interests lie in exploring fluid dynamical processes that affect the oceanic carbon cycle and climate. She develops and uses computational models to study fluid instabilities, transport and mixing and has led several research expeditions to make measurements of the ocean on scales ranging from 1 to 100 km. By combining these observations with modeling, she aims to gain a deeper phenomenological understanding of ocean processes. Amala is a recipient of the Harvard Radcliffe fellowship in 2015, MIT’s Frank E. Perkins award for excellence in graduate advising in the School of Science in 2019, and the Arnold Arons award at WHOI for excellence in teaching, advising, and mentoring in 2020. She serves as Faculty Dean of an undergraduate house at Harvard University. 

Olascoaga was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she obtained a Licentiate in oceanography from Instituto Tecnológico de Buenos Aires (ITBA) in 1994. She then moved to Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico to pursue graduate education at Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada (CICESE). There she obtained a MSc degree (1996) under the direction of Professor Julio Sheinbaum and an ScD degree (2001) in physical oceanography under the advice of the late Professor Pedro Ripa. She subsequently moved to Miami to pursue postdoctoral training at RSMAS. She joined the RSMAS faculty in 2008.

Lionel Renault is a researcher at the French Institute for Research for Development (IRD), currently based at LEGOS in Toulouse. His research focuses on the analysis of submesoscale and mesoscale air-sea interactions, with particular emphasis on their impact on the overlying atmosphere and ocean dynamics. He studies the exchange of kinetic and potential energy between the atmosphere and the ocean, and how these interactions influence ocean dynamics, in particular the major ocean currents. A key aspect of his work is to understand the links between air-sea interactions and the oceanic cascade of energy, as well as the upscaling effects that these interactions have on large-scale oceanic features, including water masses, large-scale currents, and overall atmospheric circulation patterns.

Background on physical oceanography. My current research is mainly focused on the shelf-slope circulation and mesoscale activity in the Bay of Biscay. My work is mainly based on the analysis of in-situ Eulerian and Lagrangian measurements and remote sensing data, including high frequency observations of ocean surface currents from HF radars. She is currently head of Marine Technologies Area in the Marine Research Division, coordinating technological development, innovation and transfer to marine and maritime fields (Operational oceanography, Fisheries, Aquaculture, Transport, Ocean energy, Tourism).