Open AccessAtmospheric turbulence not simply two‐dimensional or three‐dimensional
Author(s) -
Schultz Colin
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
eos, transactions american geophysical union
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.316
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 2324-9250
pISSN - 0096-3941
DOI - 10.1029/2012eo320007
Subject(s) - turbulence , isotropy , k epsilon turbulence model , vortex , scale (ratio) , physics , statistical physics , k omega turbulence model , atmospheric turbulence , space (punctuation) , classical mechanics , mechanics , meteorology , theoretical physics , optics , computer science , quantum mechanics , operating system
A complete mathematical description of turbulence is one of the most sought‐after prizes in physics, and although the research of Pinel et al. does not provide a full account, it does aim to pin down the answer to one subset of that effort: Are two‐dimensional (2‐D) or 3‐D the main options for atmospheric turbulence? In the earliest statistical descriptions, scientists assumed that turbulence was direction independent (isotropic) but in two separate regimes: at large scales being horizontally isotropic, while at small scales being isotropic in 3‐D space. In this view, only large‐scale turbulence behaves differently in the vertical and horizontal directions, that is, with horizontally stratified vortices.