On June 23, Félix defended his thesis on “Studying the Methane Cycle in Circumpolar Regions Using Atmospheric Modeling and Field Measurements,” co-supervised by Cyril Crevoisier and Thomas Lauvaux.

His thesis focused on the study of atmospheric methane in circumpolar regions, focusing on the MAGIC2021 campaign conducted in Kiruna, Sweden. His research combines field measurements with global models and regional simulations to study the vertical distribution of methane, its transport, and evaluate the estimates of existing models.

His work has made it possible to (1) highlight methane plumes superimposed at different altitudes, from local and distant sources (biomass fires from North America and Northeast Asia), highlighting a potential bias in satellite measurements for estimating methane emissions; (2) show, via the comparison between models and campaign data, that optimized global models reflect high-altitude observations well, unlike regional models which overestimate concentrations near the ground; (3) point out the limit of current emissions products, which struggle to reproduce the observed variability, due to the failure to correctly integrate certain key factors such as weather or the extent of wetlands, highlighting the complexity of methane dynamics in polar regions and the current limitations of atmospheric models and emissions inventories.

In addition to this, Félix has committed to projects at the laboratory that reflect on the impact of our research on the environment, and more profoundly, on the positioning of research in today’s world.
We congratulate him and wish him all the best for the rest of his adventure.

Link towards the MAGIC2021 campaign: https://magic.aeris-data.fr/magic2021/