ICube MSII Seminar: Interactions between plankton cells and turbulence

Eric CLIMENT: Director of the International Research Laboratory Ayrton-Blériot Engineering Lab. (ABEL) (IRL 2035) - website

This seminar will take place on Thursday, 20th November at 2:00 PM in the 'Terre' amphitheater at the ICube site on the Manufacture des Tabacs campus. (7 Rue de la Krutenau, 67000 Strasbourg).

Title: Interactions between plankton cells and turbulence

Abstract:
Plankton are small organisms that are by definition carried along by ocean currents. However, many species do not behave as passive particles and propel themselves with velocities ranging from 10 to 1000 microns/s. Turbulence is a ubiquitous feature of marine ecosystems which affects the spatial distribution of plankton, their behaviour, their ability to obtain food or locate a partner, which in turn influences ecosystem-scale processes.
I will report on numerical and experimental investigations corresponding to two situations:
- gyrotactic phytoplankton cells in turbulence (numerical simulations of clustering and vertical migration)
- the effect of microplastic pollution on the dynamics of zooplankton (copepods) though experimental
imaging of their swimming tracks.

Bio:
Prof. Éric Climent has twenty years of experience in teaching and research on numerical modelling and simulations of two-phase flows. Since 2008, he is full Professor of fluid mechanics and has been a member of the Fluid Mechanics Institute (IMFT – UMR 5502 CNRS-INPT-UPS), developing his expertise on the modelling and simulation of disperse two-phase flows (suspension flow, solid/liquid separation, bubbles, and drops in turbulent flows). Eric Climent has supervised 35 PhD students and several post-docs and master students. He is co-author of more than 90 papers in international peer-reviewed journals on particulate flows, bubble and drop dynamics, active suspensions and liquid-solid separation techniques. He gave many invited talks in international conferences and more than 200 international communications. He has continuously developed numerical tools and modelling approaches (DNS, LES and fully resolved particulate flows) for the simulation of dispersed two-phase flows dealing with academic topics and industrial applications in engineering. Prof. Eric Climent was the Director of IMFT over the period 2016-2024 and is now heading an international research laboratory jointly affiliated to CNRS and Imperial College London (IRL 2035 ABEL on Engineering).