Staff

Damien Bouffard

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Prof. Damien Bouffard

Department Surface Waters Research & Management

About Me

I obtained a PhD in environmental fluid mechanics at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland. Since then, I have mainly worked along two research axes: (i) linking small-scale turbulence to large-scale forcing, and (ii) aquatic physics as a tool to understand lake ecosystems.

Lakes contain 90% of the Earth’s surface freshwater, which are stressed by global climate change, run-off from agriculture and urbanization. A key interdisciplinary research challenge consists in providing effective guidance to manage these natural water resources in challenging times. Yet, the issue is that physical, biological and chemical processes interact over more than eight spatial and temporal orders of magnitude ranging from mm to tens of km and sec to tens of years. Aquatic physics is a cornerstone for understanding lake ecosystems and in particular for looking at the spatial and temporal distributions of physical, biological or chemical quantities such as gases, nutrients, heat, pollutants and phytoplankton within the system. The beauty of the research in aquatic physics resides in determining and investigating the relevant processes ranging from small-scale turbulence to large-scale circulation patterns.

The overarching goal of my research is to assess the role of transport in lake ecosystems, hence, to link litto-ral, benthic and pelagic habitats with hydrodynamic processes. I work on elucidating physical processes at the entire range of spatial and temporal scales based on a methodology that combines in- situ measurements, remote sensing observations and three-dimensional numerical modeling. My research provides relevant insights and tools that allow making progress in a variety of topics related to biochemical, geomorphological, or lake management. 

My short term research perspective focuses on 3 topics: (i) unraveling the role of convective processes in lakes (ii) transport in the littoral and pelagic zone, and (iii) alpine lakes. On a longer term perspective, I strive after reconnecting lakes to their watershed.

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Projects

How to investigate the spatial variability in lakes?

Coupling Remote Sensing, In Situ and Models (CORESIM)
How to best monitor ice in Swiss lakes?

Integrated monitoring of ice in selected Swiss lakes
What is the role of convective processes on early life growth in ice-covered lakes?

Life under the ice: Under ice convection
Buoyancy driven nearshore transport in lakes

HYPOlimnetic THErmal SYphonS (HYPOTHESYS)
Heterogeneous data platform for operational modeling and forecasting of Swiss lakes in collaboration with the Swiss Data Science Center.

Datalakes - data science forecasts for Swiss lakes
A one-dimensional physical lake model that can be coupled to biogeochemical models

Simstrat
A new multidisciplinary research platform for Lake Geneva

Lake Leman Exploration

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Files

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Address

E-Mail: damien.bouffard@eawag.ch
Phone: +41 58 765 2273
Fax: +41 58 765 2168
Address: Eawag
Seestrasse 79
6047 Kastanienbaum
Office: SW B02
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Expert on

surface water, modeling, field studies

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Research Group

For more information about our research group, please visit the aquatic physics laboratory.

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Focalpoints

  • Environmental fluid mechanics
  • Physical limnology
  • Hydrodynamic modelling
  • Turbulence and mixing in stratified flows

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