My past research

2025: Impact of Arctic sea ice on mid-latitude Eurasian climate

During three months, I investigated the impact of Arctic sea ice on mid-latitude Eurasian climate using the Liang-Kleeman information flow method as part of a postdoctoral fellowship at the Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory in Zhuhai (China) together with X. San Liang (my supervisor) and Jiwang Ma. A paper linked to this research is currently under preparation.

2023-2025: Recent Arctic and Antarctic sea ice lows (RESIST)

I did a postdoctoral research at the Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium (RMI), in the Unit of Dynamical Meteorology and Climatology, under the supervision of Stéphane Vannitsem. Together with researchers from UCLouvain (PI: François Massonnet) and RMI (PI: David Docquier), I investigated the cause-effect relationships between recent summer sea-ice lows in both polar regions and their potential interacting agents. This was done in the context of the BELSPO RESIST project (REcent Arctic and Antarctic Sea Ice lows: Same causes, same impacTs?).

More specifically, I used the rate of information transfer from Liang (2021) to better understand the causes and impacts of Arctic and Antarctic sea-ice lows in global climate models. In collaboration with François Massonnet (UCLouvain), Francesco Ragone (RMI/UCLouvain), Annelies Sticker (UCLouvain), Thierry Fichefet (UCLouvain) and Stéphane Vannitsem (RMI), I looked at the drivers of summer Arctic sea-ice extent in CMIP6 large ensembles. These results have been published HERE. I have also been looking at: (1) the drivers of summer Antarctic sea-ice extent in CMIP6 large ensembles (paper in review), and (2) the links between Arctic/Antarctic sea ice (volume, thickness, extent) and the different terms of the sea-ice mass balance in NEMO simulations (paper in prep.) together with collaborators at UCLouvain and RMI.

2021-2024: Ocean-atmosphere-sea ice interactions (ROADMAP)

In the context of the JPI-Oceans/JPI-Climate ROADMAP project (BELSPO funding on the Belgian side), I looked at ways to better understand the interactions between the ocean, atmosphere and sea ice using causal methods.

In a study done in collaboration with Stéphane Vannitsem (RMI), Francesco Ragone (RMI & UCLouvain, Belgium), Klaus Wyser (SMHI, Sweden) and X. San Liang (Fudan University, China), I investigated causal links between Arctic sea ice and its potential drivers using the rate of information transfer from Liang (2021). The results from this research are published HERE.

In two additional studies, in collaboration with Stéphane Vannitsem (RMI), Alessio Bellucci (CNR, Italy) and Claude Frankignoul (Sorbonne University, France; Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, USA), I looked at ocean-atmosphere interactions (first study, see publication HERE) and ocean heat content budget (second study) based on the rate of information transfer at the global scale and using satellite observations, global climate models and reanalyses.

In collaboration with Stéphane Vannitsem (RMI), Giorgia Di Capua and Reik Donner (PIK, Germany), Amélie Simon (IMT-Atlantique, France) and Carlos Pires (IDL, Portugal), we compared different causal methods together in order to try to understand how they differ between each other (see publication HERE). I was also involved in a study led by Carlos Pires (IDL, Portugal), who developed a nonlinear estimate of the rate of information transfer from Liang (see publication HERE). This method was also applied to a reduced-order atmospheric model in a study led by Stéphane Vannitsem (see publication HERE).

2019-2020: Interactions between ocean heat transport and Arctic sea ice (OSeaIce)

During my postdoctoral research at SMHI, Sweden (2019-2020, supervisor: Torben Koenigk), I have focused on the two-way interactions between ocean heat transport and Arctic sea ice. In particular, I have used the EC-Earth model to carry out model simulations in which the ocean heat transport was increased compared to a control run, via an increase in the sea-surface temperature, resulting in a loss of Arctic sea-ice area and volume. The figure on the upper right side shows the decrease in Arctic sea-ice volume following the increase in ocean heat transport. It also shows that for a same amount of ocean heat transport increase, the loss of Arctic sea-ice volume is stronger if the sea-surface temperature is raised in the North Pacific Ocean (crosses) compared to the North Atlantic Ocean (dots). This study has been published here.

As part of my postdoc at SMHI, I have also investigated Arctic sea ice and ocean heat transport in CMIP6 models and I have used different selection criteria to refine model projections of Arctic sea ice. We found that our model selection leads to lower Arctic sea-ice area and volume relative to the multi-model mean without model selection and summer ice-free conditions could occur as early as around 2035 in a high greenhouse gas emission scenario and between 2040 and 2050 in a low emission scenario. Results from the high greenhouse gas emission scenario (SSP5-8.5) are illustrated on the lower right side, where the date of first ice-free Arctic is shown (i.e. the year when September sea-ice area drops below 1 million km² for the first time). This study has been published here and a 'Behind the paper' blog post can be found here.

This project, named OSeaIce (Two-way interactions between ocean heat transport and Arctic sea ice), has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 834493.

TOP: Change in mean March Arctic sea-ice volume against change in mean ocean heat transport through all Arctic straits between the sensitivity experiments and the control run carried out with EC-Earth3 at standard resolution. Adaptation of Fig. 9c of Docquier et al. (2021).BOTTOM: Date of first September ice-free Arctic for different selection criteria (C1–C13) and without selection (WS), based on the SSP5-8.5 scenario. Fig. 4 of Docquier & Koenigk (2021).

March sea-surface velocity in the North Atlantic Ocean from HighResMIP models (1982-2014) and satellite observations (1993-2016). Fig. 8 of Docquier et al. (2019).

2015-2019: Evaluation of sea-ice and ocean processes in global climate models using different resolutions (PRIMAVERA)

During my postdoctoral research at UCLouvain, Belgium (2015-2019, supervisor: Thierry Fichefet), I used the outputs of several global climate models (GCMs) participating to the High Resolution Model Intercomparison Project (HighResMIP) and different observations to evaluate the representation of Arctic sea-ice processes as well as processes linking sea ice to the ocean. I studied more particularly the impact of model horizontal resolution on these processes. I also used the EC-Earth model to investigate the representation of melt ponds in GCMs. My work was embedded within the PRIMAVERA project, an EU Horizon 2020 project involving 20 partner research centers around Europe.

The figure on the left side shows the ocean surface velocity in the North Atlantic Ocean using model outputs at different resolutions (a-h) and satellite observations (i). It is clear that the Gulf Stream and North Atlantic Current are better represented at higher ocean resolution, e.g. compare (a) with (d), (b) with (e), and (c) with (f). To get further insights into my contribution to the PRIMAVERA project, you can have a look at this study about Arctic sea ice drift-strength relationships, this study about the impact of model resolution on sea ice - ocean heat transport relationships in the Arctic and this study about the sea ice - ocean heat transport relationships in the Barents Sea.

2015: Wind dynamics around Lake Tanganyika (EAGLES)

During my postdoctoral research at KU Leuven, Belgium (supervisor: Nicole van Lipzig), I analyzed the outputs of the regional climate model (RCM) Consortium for Small-scale Modeling in Climate Mode (COSMO-CLM). The goal was to assess the wind dynamics in the vicinity of Lake Tanganyika using COSMO-CLM and satellite observations. My work received funding from the Belgian Science Policy Office (BELSPO) through the research project EAGLES.

The figure on the right side shows the difference in surface wind speed between a model simulation with lakes activated and another simulation without lakes (lake pixels are replaced by representative land pixels). This figure clearly shows that the presence of Lake Tanganyika enhances wind speed by ~ 80% during the dry season. This occurs due to lower surface roughness over lakes compared to roughness over land. More details can be found here.

(a) Difference in 10 m wind speed and direction between a COSMO-CLM model simulation with lakes (CTL) and another simulation without lakes (NOL). (b) Relative difference in 10m wind speed between CTL and NOL simulations (May-August 1999–2008). Fig. 8 of Docquier et al. (2016).

Observed ice velocity (m per year) of the Amundsen Sea Embayment in West Antarctica, with the flowline of Thwaites Glacier represented as a dashed white curve. The lateral boundaries of the glacier basin corresponding to different model experiments are represented in white, red and black. Fig. 3a of Docquier et al. (2014).

2009-2013: Grounding-line dynamics in Antarctic ice-sheet models (ice2sea)

During my PhD research at ULB, Belgium (supervisor: Frank Pattyn), I studied the representation of grounding-line migration in numerical ice-sheet models of Antarctica. The grounding line is the junction between the grounded ice sheet and the floating ice shelf. I used several ice-sheet models of different complexities to represent the flow of ice. I was involved in the ice2sea project (EU FP7, 24 partner research centers), which aimed at assessing the contribution of land ice to sea-level rise.

The figure on the left side shows the observed ice velocity of the Amundsen Sea Embayment in West Antarctica, with the flowline of Thwaites Glacier, one of the fastest-flowing glaciers on Earth. Different model experiments were carried out and showed that flow convergence and ice-shelf buttressing reduced the ice flow, leading to lower sea-level rise. More details about this study can be found here. You can also have a look at this study and my PhD thesis.

2008-2009: Albedo interannual variability in Greenland

In the framework of my Master thesis at ULiège, Belgium (supervisor: Xavier Fettweis), I looked at the interannual variability of the surface albedo in Greenland. I used satellite observations to retrieve the albedo of different surface types in Greenland, in order to build a tundra-ice mask.

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