Aims

This workshop aims at gathering european groups which develops numerical and theoretical tools for the study of atmospheric and oceanic flows. The dynamics of these flows involve an astonishing large range of spatial and temporal scales, which renders predictability difficult, and which makes numerical and theoretical study of the climate system very challenging.

Thanks to outstanding progress obtained during the last two decades, some aspects of the climate system may be reasonably reproduced in a hierarchy of numerical models with increasing complexity.

The understanding of the dynamics of complex systems, such as turbulent flows involved in climate
dynamics is extremely difficult. The reasons are multiple: they involve very different physical mechanisms at different time and space scales, they are out of equilibrium and fluxes of conserved quantities
(masses, energy) which are not easily controlled play a major role. This a serious challenge for physicists,
because such non-equilibrium phenomena are so ubiquitous, and often leave us with the feeling of being
unable to really understand or make any trusted prediction.

The first part of the workshop will deal with intermediate complexity models of the climate system. The second part will be more specifically devoted to geostrophic turbulence, from the point of view of observations, simulations and laboratory experiments. The third part will give a general overview of current theoretical approaches to understand these complex systems.

This three day workshop will gather around 35 participants. The aim is to have long talks (35 minutes + 10 minutes discussions) allowing for a thorough discussion and understanding. The program will plan 8 talks each day and a long lunch break for informal scientific discussions.