Paul Hargous

PhD Student in Physical Oceanography

A bit about me

Growing up close to the sea strongly shaped my interests and ultimately guided my decision to pursue a career in ocean science. Today, I am a PhD student in physical oceanography. I hold a double degree from the French engineering school ENSEEIHT and a Master's degree in Ocean, Atmosphere and Climate Sciences (SOAC). During my studies, I had the opportunity to spend a year in the Canary Islands, where I completed two six-month internships at the IOCAG and Elittoral. I later carried out my Master’s research internship at CSIRO in Australia. I am currently pursuing my PhD at IMEDEA, where my research focuses on mesoscale ocean activity and its role in ocean circulation and variability.

About my research

I am a PhD candidate in physical oceanography studying mesoscale variability in the Mediterranean Sea. My research focuses on understanding the variability and long-term evolution of ocean mesoscale dynamics, particularly through the analysis of satellite altimetry observations. A central part of my work consists of comparing different gridded satellite products, including geostrophic velocity fields and eddy detection atlases, to investigate trends in Eddy Kinetic Energy (EKE) across the Mediterranean basin. An important objective is to assess the robustness of these trends by confronting gridded products with independent along-track altimetry measurements, which provide a more direct view of the observed sea level signal. The next stage of my research focuses on the study of fine-scale dynamics in selected Mediterranean regions using observations from the wide-swath altimetry mission Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT), which offers unprecedented spatial resolution for observing ocean surface variability and mesoscale structures.