2008/05/04 by Hua Xia, Xia, H., H. Punzmann +4
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics (physics.ao-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Fluid Dynamics (physics.flu-dyn) #Fluid Dynamics and Turbulent Flows #Meteorological Phenomena and Simulations #Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.0805.0390
openalex publication_date 2008/05/04 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Measurements of atmospheric winds in the mesoscale range (10-500 km) reveal remarkably universal spectra with the k-5/3 power law. Despite initial expectations of the inverse energy cascade, as in two-dimensional (2D) turbulence, measurements of the third velocity moment in atmosphere, suggested a direct energy cascade. Here we propose a possible solution to this controversy by accounting for the presence of a large-scale coherent flow, or a spectral condensate. We present new experimental laboratory data and show that the presence of a large-scale shear flow modifies the third-order velocity moment in spectrally condensed 2D turbulence, making it, in some conditions, similar to that observed in the atmosphere.