On the relevance of two-dimensional turbulence to geophysical fluid motions

Comparisons are made between the theory of two-dimensional turbulence and certain observed characteristics of oceanic and atmospheric flow. In practice, several generalizations of strictly two-dimensional turbulence are needed to obtain more similarities in the comparisons. These include a finite radius of deformation (gamma-turbulence), nonlinear interactions between different vertical modes (baroclinic turbulence), a wave propagation mechanism (beta-turbulence), variable topography, and a background mean circulation (jet turbulence). Collectively, these generalizations are known as geostrophic turbulence. The observed phenomena to which comparisons are made include weather impredictability, spectrum peaks and power law regimes in horizontal and vertical wavenumber spectra, particle dispersion rates, flow near topography, and aspects of the energy budget for geophysical turbulence.