Fondation Latsis Internationale Award 2009 - Elie Bou-Zeid

"For fundamental contributions to the understanding of atmospheric turbulence and the representation of temperature and humidity in numerical simulations of the atmospheric boundary layer."

The Atmospheric Boundary Layer and How it Links Climatic and Environmental Change.

Combining numerical, experimental, and analytical tools, Dr. Elie Bou-Zeid studies the basic dynamics of flow and transport in environmental systems, with a focus on how these dynamics relate to problems in air quality, hydrology, and atmospheric sciences. During his Postdoctoral work at EPFL, he focused on the sensing and modeling of atmospheric flows in the thin (~1 km) layer of air near the earth surface, known as the atmospheric boundary layer. Most human activities and engineered systems are concentrated in this layer. In addition, its dynamics are very important for surface-atmosphere couplings and for global atmospheric dynamics, with very significant implications on our ability to predict and mitigate climate change. His research at EPFL included extensive field experimental campaigns over; 1) the Plaine-Morte Glacier in the Valais to study stably-stratified atmospheric flows, 2) Lac Leman to study atmospheric dynamics over "calm" water surfaces, and 3) the campus of EPFL to study the urban environment. These experiments were also used to improve numerical simulation techniques for the atmospheric boundary layer, specifically the large eddy simulation technique, which was then applied to simulate flow over the EPFL campus and flow over heterogeneous terrain.