LIttoral ENvironnement et Sociétés (LIENSs) - UMR 7266

My research activities focus on the littoral zone, the fine, dynamic and fragile interface between land and the ocean. In addition to its significant ecological importance, this interface concentrates a large part of the world’s population and its activities, making it particularly vulnerable to severe weather and oceanic events. My main objective is to better understand the (wave-induced) physical processes dominating the nearshore dynamics during storm conditions and their impact at the coast, so that these processes can be better represented in numerical models for multi-scale prediction of coastal hazards. This will be addressed by investigating fundamental and key research questions within two main research themes (see schematic below), using a combination of field and laboratory observations, and numerical modelling :
1 – Surf zone wave hydrodynamics, and its control on wave runup. This research theme focuses on wave breaking processes and how they are related to non-linear wave dynamics (energy transfers between frequencies and cascades). This will then allow to better understand wave transformation within the surf zone and the link between surf zone waves and runup. Wave runup significantly contributes to coastal flooding and erosion, however, it is presently not represented in large scale models for coastal hazards prediction.
2 - Morphological evolution of sandy beaches during storms. This research theme aims at developing the first methodology able to measure in « real-time » the morphological response of sandy beaches to storm waves. The approach will rely on the capacity of lidar scanners to directly measure both the upper beach topography and surf zone waves. Appropriate non-linear theory is then needed to relate the mean water depth to the remotely-sensed wave properties
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