Nonlinear dynamics in fluids

Fluid flows occur in a huge range of scales, from blood capillaries to atmospheric weather systems. The way in which substances are transported has large impacts, e.g., on how pollutants arrive to distant locations, plankton meets the nutrients, or into the whole heat balance involved in the Earth climate.

At IFISC we develop techniques useful to characterize transport in fluids, quantify stretching, mixing, and connectivity between parts of a fluid. We apply them to geophysical settings, mostly in the ocean. We develop tools to identify barriers to the transport of oxygen and nutrients, evaluate the ecological implications of larval transport, or track the origins of water vapor masses transported by atmospheric winds.