Adrian van Kan


avankan at uni-muenster.de
Institute of Geophysics
Department of Physics
University of Münster
Germany

GS RG ORCID

About Me

Since April 2026, I have been working at the University of Münster, where I am leading the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics research group. Previously, I was an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Texas A&M University, focusing on numerical methods for fluid dynamics and high-performance computing.

🌀🔥We are hiring!🔥🌀 If you are interested in a PhD or Postdoc position (or Bachelor/Master thesis) in geophysical fluid dynamics, numerical simulations, turbulence and related problems, please get in touch.

I was previously a DFG Walter Benjamin Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley. My research interests include fluid mechanics, turbulence, statistical mechanics, and nonlinear or stochastic dynamics. My work uses numerical simulations, modeling, and theory to study geophysical (oceanic and atmospheric) turbulence, with a focus on self-organisation and the formation of coherent structures such as hurricane-like large-scale vortices.

At UC Berkeley, I worked in the group of Professor Edgar Knobloch and was co-supervised by Keith Julien (CU Boulder) until his untimely passing. I study instability-driven turbulence and rotating convection. During my PhD at École normale supérieure (ENS), under the supervision of Alexandros Alexakis and Marc Brachet, I investigated nonequilibrium phase transitions in idealized geophysical turbulence.

Projects

Coming soon...

Publications

Currently Submitted Papers

  1. Y. Lin, A. van Kan, E. Knobloch
    ``Reduced wave number dynamics in the real and complex Ginzburg-Landau equations"
    (submitted to Phys. Rev. E) [ArXiv].
  2. T. Tsubota, S. Mahajan, A. van Kan, E. Knobloch
    ``Accurate simulation of pulled and pushed fronts in the nonautonomous Fisher-KPP equation"
    (submitted to Phys. Rev. E) [ArXiv].

Published Papers

    2026

  1. A. van Kan, A. Alexakis, E. Knobloch
    ``Two-dimensional turbulent condensates without bottom drag"
    Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 384, 20250034 (2026) [ArXiv] [Online]

    2. 2025

  2. A. Fraser, A. van Kan, E. Knobloch, K. Julien, C. Liu
    "Spontaneous generation of helical flows by salt fingers"
    J. Fluid Mech. 1020, R1 (2025) [ArXiv] [Online].
  3. K. Julien, A. van Kan, B. Miquel, E. Knobloch, G. Vasil
    "Rescaled Equations for Well-Conditioned Direct Numerical Simulations of Rapidly Rotating Convection"
    J. Comput. Phys. 541, 114274 (2025) [ArXiv] [Online].
  4. A. van Kan, K. Julien, B. Miquel, E. Knobloch
    "Bridging the Rossby number gap in rapidly rotating thermal convection"
    J. Fluid Mech. 1010, A42 (2025) [ArXiv] [Online].
  5. Z.-W. Li, C. Liu, A. van Kan, E. Knobloch
    "Traveling spatially localized convective structures in an inclined porous medium"
    Phys. Rev. Fluids 10.3 (2025): 034402 [ArXiv] [Online].

    6. 2024

  6. A. van Kan
    "Phase Transitions in Anisotropic Turbulence (Invited Mini-Review)"
    Chaos 34, 122103 (2024), Editor's Pick [ArXiv] [Online].
  7. L. Xu, A. van Kan, C. Liu, E. Knobloch
    ``Fluctuation-induced transitions in anisotropic two-dimensional turbulence"
    Phys. Rev. Fluids, 9, 064605 (2024), Editor's Suggestion [ArXiv] [Online].
  8. A. van Kan, B. Favier, K. Julien, E. Knobloch
    ``From a vortex gas to a vortex crystal in instability-driven two-dimensional turbulence"
    J. Fluid Mech., 984, A41 (2024) [ArXiv] [Online].
  9. A. Alexakis, R. Marino, P. D. Mininni, A. van Kan, R. Foldes, F. Feraco
    ``Large-scale self-organisation in dry turbulent atmospheres"
    Science, 383, 6686, pp. 1005-1009 (2024) [ArXiv] [Online].

    10. 2023

  10. M. Raja, A. van Kan, B. Foster, E. Knobloch
    ``Collisions of localized patterns in a nonvariational Swift-Hohenberg equation"
    Phys. Rev. E 107, 064214 (2023) [ArXiv] [Online].
  11. A. van Kan, F. Pétrélis
    1/f noise and anomalous scaling in Lévy noise-driven on–off intermittency.
    J. Stat. Mech. 2023(1), 013204 [ArXiv] [Online].

    12. 2022

  12. A. van Kan, B. Favier, K. Julien, E. Knobloch
    ``Spontaneous suppression of inverse energy cascade in instability-driven 2D turbulence"
    (2022), J. Fluid Mech., 952, p.R4. [ArXiv] [Online].
  13. X. M. de Wit, A. van Kan, A. Alexakis
    ``Bistability of the large-scale dynamics in quasi-two-dimensional turbulence"
    J. Fluid Mech. 939, R2 (2022) [ArXiv] [Online].
  14. A. van Kan, A. Alexakis, M. E. Brachet
    ``Geometric microcanonical theory of two-dimensional Truncated Euler flows''
    Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 380, 20210049 (2022) [ArXiv] [Online] [PDF].

    15. 2021

  15. A. van Kan, A. Alexakis
    ``Energy cascades in rapidly rotating and stratified turbulence within elongated domains''
    J. Fluid Mech. 933, A11 (2021) [ArXiv] [Online].
  16. A. van Kan, A. Alexakis, M. E. Brachet
    ``Lévy On-Off Intermittency''
    Phys. Rev. E 103, 052115 (2021) [ArXiv] [Online].
  17. A. van Kan, A. Alexakis, M. E. Brachet
    ``Intermittency of three-dimensional perturbations in a point-vortex model''
    Phys. Rev. E 103, 053102 (2021) [ArXiv] [Online].

    18. 2020

  18. A. van Kan, A. Alexakis
    ``Critical transition in fast-rotating turbulence within highly elongated domains"
    J. Fluid Mech. 899, A33 (2020) [ArXiv] [Online].
  19. B. Poujol, A. van Kan, A. Alexakis
    ``Role of the forcing dimensionality in thin-layer turbulent energy cascades"
    Phys. Rev. Fluids 5, 064610 (2020) [ArXiv] [Online].

    20. 2019

  20. A. van Kan, T. Nemoto, A. Alexakis
    ``Rare transitions to thin-layer turbulent condensates"
    J. Fluid Mech. 878, 356-369 (2019) [ArXiv] [Online].
  21. A. van Kan, A. Alexakis
    ``Condensates in thin-layer turbulence"
    J. Fluid Mech. 864, 490-518 (2019) [ArXiv] [Online].

    22. 2016

  22. A. van Kan, J. Jegminat, J. Donges, J. Kurths
    ``Constrained Basin stability for studying transient phenomena in dynamical systems"
    Phys. Rev. E 93.4 (2016): 042205. [ArXiv] [Online].

    23. 2015

  23. S. Wang, R. Toumi, A. Czaja, A. van Kan
    ``An analytic model of tropical cyclone wind profiles"
    Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc. 141.693 (2015) [Online].

Curriculum Vitae

Here you can download a detailed PDF version of my CV.

Employment

  • Starting Aug 2025: Assistant Professor of Mathematics, Department of Mathematics, Texas A&M University
  • Apr 2025-present: Postdoctoral Researcher (part-time) @ Department of Applied Mathematics, PI: Jeffrey Weiss
  • Nov 2021-present: Postdoctoral Researcher @ Physics Department, UC Berkeley. PI: Edgar Knobloch, formerly co-advised by Keith Julien (CU Boulder)

Education

  • Master of Science, Physics, Fakultät für Physik und Astronomie, Universität Heidelberg.
    Thesis Supervisor: Alexandros Alexakis (ENS Paris)
  • Master of Advanced Studies, Mathematics, Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge
    Essay supervisor: Peter Hitchcock
  • Bachelor of Science, Fakultät für Physik und Astronomie, Universität Heidelberg.
    Including Erasmus exchange at Imperial College London
    Third year project supervisor: Dr. Arnaud Czaja (ICL)
    Thesis supervisor: Prof. Sandra Klevansky (Heidelberg)

Collaborators

Below you find a list of my past and present collaborators, in reverse chronological order, grouped by the institution I was at when the collaboration started (UC Berkeley, ENS Paris, Universität Heidelberg, Imperial College London).

Prof. Edgar Knobloch (University of California, Berkeley)
Prof. Keith Julien (University of Colorado, Boulder)
Dr. Benjamin Favier (CNRS, IRPHE - Aix-Marseille University)
Dr. Alexandros Alexakis (CNRS, Ecole normale supérieure, Paris)
Dr. Marc Brachet (CNRS, Ecole normale supérieure, Paris)
Dr. François Pétrélis (CNRS, Ecole normale supérieure, Paris)
Dr. Takahiro Nemoto (Kyoto University)
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Jürgen Kurths (PIK, Potsdam)
Dr. Jonathan Donges (PIK, Potsdam)
Dr. Arnaud Czaja (Imperial College, London)
Prof. Ralf Toumi (Imperial College, London)