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Charney isotropy and equipartition in quasi-geostrophic turbulence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2010

ANDREAS VALLGREN  and
ERIK LINDBORG
ANDREAS VALLGREN*
Affiliation:
Linné FLOW Centre, KTH Mechanics, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
ERIK LINDBORG
Affiliation:
Linné FLOW Centre, KTH Mechanics, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
*
†Email address for correspondence: vallgren@mech.kth.se
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Abstract

High-resolution simulations of forced quasi-geostrophic (QG) turbulence reveal that Charney isotropy develops under a wide range of conditions, and constitutes a preferred state also in β-plane and freely decaying turbulence. There is a clear analogy between two-dimensional and QG turbulence, with a direct enstrophy cascade that is governed by the prediction of Kraichnan (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 47, 1971, p. 525) and an inverse energy cascade following the classic k−5/3 scaling. Furthermore, we find that Charney's prediction of equipartition between the potential and kinetic energy in each of the two horizontal velocity components is approximately fulfilled in the inertial ranges.

JFM classification

Turbulent Flows: Rotating turbulence Turbulent Flows: Turbulence simulation Turbulent Flows: Turbulence theory

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Type
Papers
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 656 , 10 August 2010 , pp. 448 - 457
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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