Maths & Oceans: a series of articles combining science and nature
What could be further apart in the collective imagination than mathematics—abstract, rational—and the ocean—mysterious, tumultuous?
And yet, the ocean is one of the most fascinating mathematical objects, constantly challenging researchers.
Describing wave formation, understanding tidal waves, interpreting signals captured by offshore sensors, developing and using predictive models of the ocean and its ecosystems... These are just a few examples that illustrate the need to closely link mathematics and ocean sciences, by designing research projects where expertise intersects and reinforces each other.
This intellectual effort is all the more urgent given that the ocean plays a major role in the climate system and in regulating biodiversity. To understand—and perhaps influence—the trajectory of the relationship between humans and the ocean, it is essential to “put the ocean into equations” in order to reveal phenomena that are invisible to us, from molecules to ecosystems, to the long-term evolution of ocean dynamics.
To explore this universe and attempt to provide answers to these big questions, Insmi is launching an editorial project dedicated to the links between mathematics and the ocean.
Fabrizio d'Ortenzio, research director at LOV1 , Damien Eveillard, lecturer-researcher at LS2N2 , Cyrille Jeancolas, doctoral student at ESPCI3 , and David Lannes, research director at IMB4 for the research group OMER Océan et MERs.
Articles in the series
- How can whales be located in the ocean? by Angèle Niclas, researcher and lecturer at the Applied Mathematics Laboratory at Paris 5 University1 - published on October 6, 2025
- Mascaret, the tidal wave by Paul Vigneaux, professor at UPJV, Amiens Laboratory of Fundamental and Applied Mathematics2 - published on October 28, 2026