On 29 September, Bruno Gruselle, Director of ENSTA Bretagne signed a partnership agreement with the Van Allen Foundation, in the presence of Annick Girardin, Minister of the Sea. The research work will cover improvements to meteorological models forecasting “Cévenol” events.
Cevenol events are localized heavy rain and thunderstorm events that occur mainly in South Eastern France. These violent meteorological phenomena lead to exceptional storm waters and flooding. Just a few days ago, this phenomenon caused extensive damage in the Gard and Hérault, including the death of two people.
The heavy rainfall recorded during the Cevenol events is caused by a build-up of humidity at sea. Better knowledge of the humidity above the Mediterranean could potentially contribute to improved forecasting of this intense rainfall.
To do so, several expert organizations have got together for the Van Allen Foundation’s Mediterranean project: the Centre Spatial Universitaire de Montpellier, IGN, Météo France and 'ENSTA Bretagne.
A doctorate on this will begin next December at ENSTA Bretagne
At ENSTA Bretagne, a doctorate jointly financed by the Van Allen Foundation will begin in December 2020. Its aim is to improve the analysis of GNSS signals (GPS, Galileo, Glonass) measured by antennas embedded on ships and scientific buoys out to sea.
These improvements aim to obtain a finer interpolation of the delays in GNSS signal propagation : these delays are used in meteorology and climatology as they indicate the amount of humidity in the atmosphere (the quantity is crucial in weather forecasting).
The work will also enable a better estimation of the carrier signal trajectory, especially the vertical component (a useful element in hydrography and oceanography : the specialist field of the engineer who will do a doctorate on this subject).
The project partners
