Ms Didenkulova has won the prize for developing physical-mathematical models of marine natural hazards in coastal zones.
Irina Didenkulova was born on May 23, 1980, in Gorky (Nizhny Novgorod), holds a DSc in Physics and Mathematics, and is senior researcher at Nizhny Novgorod State Technical University and at the Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Ms Didenkulova is well known among Russian oceanographers as a specialist in the field of intensive wave movements in the ocean. She has developed non-linear analytical models of the way waves hit the coast and of flooding during storms. She has gathered data on tsunamis in Russian interior waters and demonstrated the dangers they pose. She has also come up with models of how underwater landslides and volcanic eruptions trigger tsunamis. She has explained the exceptional penetration of waves far into land during the Indonesian tsunami of 2004 and the abnormal intensification of the wave observed in Samoa during the tsunami of 2009.
She has established a unique catalogue that documents the appearance of ‘killer waves’ in the world’s oceans over 2005–2010. Her experimental research demonstrates that these shallow-water ‘killer waves’ differ considerably in their characteristics from deep-water waves. She has carried out multifaceted experimental research into the intensity of waves caused by the motion of high-speed boats and their impact on the coast.
Ms Didenkulova is the author of 70 scientific articles in leading scientific journals (J. of Fluid Mechanics, J. Geophysical Research, Physics of Fluids), seven chapters in books and more than 100 presentations at Russian and international conferences (Hirsch index — 14).
The results of Ms Didenkulova’s research on evaluating the risks of severe flooding of Russia’s coasts had broad applications for protection of people and facilities in coastal regions.