Luc Rainville

Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington
Ocean Physics Department
Seattle, WA, 98105
Phone: 206-685-4058
Email: rainville@apl.washington.edu

Research interests

Generation and propagation of internal tides.
Internal wave dynamics, interactions between internal waves, eddies, and currents.
Instrumentation: shipboard and lowered Doppler sonars.
Dynamics of western boundary currents.

Education

2004
Ph.D. Oceanography Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD
1998
B.Sc. Physics McGill University

Professional experience

Oceanographer, Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington

2007-present

Visiting Scientist, University of Georgia

2007-2008
Postdoctoral Investigator, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Postdoctoral Scholar, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Advisor: Steven Jayne

Studies on the dynamics of western boundary current jets and their associated recirculation gyres and water masses using in-situ observations and high-resolution ocean general circulation models.

2006-2007
2004-2006

Postdoctoral Researcher, Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
Advisor: Robert Pinkel

2004

Graduate Research Assistant, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Thesis title: Propagation of the Internal Tide from the Hawaiian Ridge.
Advisor: Robert Pinkel.

Research on internal waves and tidal energy dissipation along the Hawaiian Ridge, as part of the HOME experiment. Focus on internal wave propagation and energy flux.

1998-2004

Undergraduate Research Assistant, Université de Montréal.
Advisor: Viktor Zacek.

Research in the Particle Physics group (GPP) of the University of Montréal on the PICASSO project. Development of a new detector for dark matter particle search. Sensitivity studies to different radiation sources.

1996-1997

Academic Awards

EGU Young Scientists’ Outstanding Poster Paper (YSOPP) Award
WHOI Postdoctoral Fellowship
AGU Outstanding Paper Presentation Award, Fall Meeting 
Link Foundation Fellowship
AGU Outstanding Paper Presentation Award, Fall Meeting 
Graduation with First Class Honours, B.Sc. 
Hugh Brock Entrance Scholarship, McGill University
Second Language Scholarship (Government of Québec).
College Bronze Medal of the Governor General of Canada, Collège d'Alma.
ALCAN Scholarship (Sciences), Collège d'Alma.
Philosophy Scholarship, Collège d'Alma.
Banque Laurentienne Scholarship (Mathematics), Collège d'Alma. 
2005
2004-2006
2002
2000-2001
2000
1998
1995-1998
1995-1996
1995
1995
1995
1995

Field Experience

2007 - CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent , Beaufort Sea. Mooring operations, hydrography, 36 days
2006 - R/V Melville, S. Jayne (WHOI), Kuroshio; KESS mooring operations, 11 days.
2005 - Icebreaker Oden; Microstructure and hydrographic section across the Arctic Ocean, 39 days
2005 - R/V Revelle, N. Hogg (WHOI), Kuroshio; KESS mooring operations, 20 days.
2002 - R/V Melville, L. Rainville (SIO), Japan; Kuroshio and internal waves studies, 13 days. 
2002 - R/P FLIP, R. Pinkel and L. Rainville (SIO), Hawaii; HOME Nearfield, 28 days.
2001 - R/P FLIP, R. Pinkel (SIO), Hawaii; HOME Farfield, 40 days.
2001 - R/P FLIP, R. Pinkel (SIO), Southern California; Instrument testing, 10 days. 
2001 - R/V Revelle, C. deMoustier (SIO), Southern California; Instrument testing, 4 days.
2000 - R/V Revelle, M. Gregg (UW), Hawaii; HOME Survey, 38 days.
2001 - R/V Revelle, F. Spiess (SIO), Southern California; Instrument testing, 6 days
2001 - R/V Revelle, J. Lynch (WHOI), East China Sea; ASIAEX Survey, 24 days.
1999 - R/P FLIP, J. Smith (SIO), Southern California; Surface and internal wave studies; 21 days.
1998 - R/V Sproul., E. Terrill (SIO), Southern California; Air-sea interactions; 10 days.

Publications

Rainville, L, and P. Winsor, 2008: Mixing across the Arctic Ocean: Microstructure observations during the Beringia 2005 Expedition. Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L08606, doi:10.1029/2008GL033532

The KESS PIs, 2008 The Kuroshio Extension System Study (KESS). Eos Trans AGU, 89, No 17, 161-162.

Duda T.F. and L. Rainville, 2008: Diurnal and Semidiurnal Internal Tide Energy Flux at a Continental Slope in the South China Sea. J. Geophys. Res. C (Oceans). 113, C03025, doi:10.1029/2007JC004418

Klymak, J.M., R. Pinkel, and L. Rainville, 2008: Direct breaking of the internal tide near topography: Keana Ridge, Hawaii. J. Phys. Oceanogr. 38, 308-399.

Rainville, L., S.R. Jayne, J.L. McClean, and M.E. Maltrud, 2007: Formation of Subtropical Mode Water in a High-Resolution Ocean Simulation of the Kuroshio Extension Region. Ocean Modelling. 17, 338-356.

Timmermans, M.-L., H. Melling, and L. Rainville, 2007: Dynamics in the deep Canada Basin, Arctic Ocean, inferred by thermistor-chain time series. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 37, 1066-1076.

Rainville, L., and R. Pinkel 2006a: Baroclinic Energy Flux at the Hawaiian Ridge: Observations from the R/P FLIP. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 36, 1104-1122.

Rainville, L., and R. Pinkel 2006b: Propagation of Low-Mode Internal Waves Through the Ocean. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 36, 1220-1237.

Rainville, L., and R. Pinkel, 2004: Observations of Energetic High-Wavenumber Internal Waves in the Kuroshio. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 34, 1495-1505.

Rudnick, D, T. J. Boyd, R. E. Brainard, G. S. Carter, G. D. Egbert, M. C. Gregg, P. E. Holloway, J. M. Klymak, E. Kunze, C. M. Lee, M. D. Levine, D. S. Luther, J. P. Martin, M. A. Merrifield, J. N. Moum, J. D. Nash, R. Pinkel, L. Rainville, and T. B. Sanford, 2003: From Tides to Mixing Along the Hawaiian Ridge. Science, 301, 355-357.

Rainville, L.., 2002: Wirewalker: An Autonomous Wave-Powered Vertical Profiler. In Research Papers of the Link Foundation Fellows, Volume 2, edited by B.J. Thompson. University of Rochester Press. 187-197.

Rainville, L.., and R. Pinkel, 2001: The Wirewalker: An Autonomous Wave-Powered Vertical Profiler. J. Atmospheric And Oceanic Technology, 18, 1048-1051.

L.A. Hamel, L. Lessard, L. Rainville, V. Zacek, and B. Sur, 1997: A Superheated Droplet Detector for Dark Matter Search, Nuclear Instruments and Methods, A388, 91-99.

Recent conferences

American Geophysical Union, Fall 2008, San Francisco, USA. Poster
American Geophysical Union, Ocean Sciences Meeting 2008, Orlando, USA. Invited oral presentation
Gordon Conference on Marine Polar Sciences 2007, Ventura, CA, USA. Poster
American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting 2006, San Francisco, USA. Oral presentation.
American Geophysical Union, Ocean Sciences Meeting 2006, Honolulu, USA. Oral presentation.
European Geophysical Union General Assembly 2005, Vienna, Austria. Poster.
IAPSO/SCOR Ocean Mixing Conference 2004, Victoria, Canada. Poster.
American Geophysical Union Spring Meeting 2004, Montréal, Canada. Poster.
American Geophysical Union, Ocean Sciences Meeting 2004, Portland, USA. Oral presentation
IUGG General Assembly 2003. Sapporo, Japan. Oral presentation
European Geophysical Society Assembly 2003, Nice, France. Oral presentation
American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting 2002, San Francisco, USA. Poster.
American Geophysical Union, Ocean Sciences Meeting 2002, Honolulu, USA. Oral presentation.
American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting 2000, San Francisco, USA. Poster.

Professionnal Affiliation and Positions

President of the WHOI Postdoctoral Association
Physical Oceanography Curricular Group Representative, Scripps Inst. of Oceanography.
Americal Geophysical Union.
American Association for Advancement of Science.

PADI Open Ocean Diver Certification

2005-2006
2000-2001


2002-present

Synergetic Activities:

Wrote the daily dispatches for the Beaufort Gyre website during the 2007 expedition in the Arctic (http://www.whoi.edu/beaufortgyre/)

Photos taken during 2007 Arctic expedition published in a children's book (Storm Scientist: Careers Chasing Severe Weather, Enslow Publishers, Inc., 2009) and the International Polar Year photo exhibit of the World Meteorological Organization in 2008-2009.


Last updated: March 2009