Physical oceanographer working on oceanic fine scales and current-topography interactions in New Caledonia.
Clément Vic did his PhD thesis at the Laboratoire d’Océanographie Physique et Spatiale (LOPS, Plouzané, France) on the western edge dynamics in the Arabian Sea using numerical modelling tools for ocean circulation. He then continued with a postdoc at the National Oceanography Centre (Southampton, UK) on internal tidal waves and energy dissipation while training in in situ observations. Today, he works at Ifremer at LOPS.
SWOT AdAC : What is your research area and how did you choose it?
Clément Vic : I work on oceanic fine scales in general and current-topography interactions in particular. I came to these topics at the end of my thesis, taking into account the emergence of new processes that appear spontaneously in the models by increasing the resolution.
SWOT AdAC: What is the link between your research area and SWOT?
CV: SWOT will allow us to sample the free surface of the ocean with better resolution than is currently done and to refine our knowledge of the propagation of internal tidal waves, as well as their interactions with low frequency currents.
SWOT AdAC: What excites you about SWOT and how will you contribute to the SWOTALIS campaign in New Caledonia?
CV: I think this is a great opportunity to create synergy between several ocean analysis tools, between satellite measurements, in situ measurements, and numerical modeling of the regional circulation. During the SWOTALIS campaign, while on board, I will help deploy a microstructure profiler, which makes very high frequency measurements of velocity shear and allows us to infer energy dissipation.
SWOT AdAC: What are your plans after the campaign?
CV: Take a vacation!
SWOT AdAC: Are you going to take a vacation on your bike?
CV: Ah, I don’t know if New Caledonia is very bikeable, I haven’t looked into it yet. But if in doubt, we’ll say yes!