Journal article
Stratification-dependent enstrophy-controlled regime in geostrophic turbulence
- Abstract:
- We experimentally measure geostrophic turbulence in a rotating, differentially heated fluid annulus, which is bounded by convectively driven warm and cold flows at the outer and inner boundaries, respectively. The horizontal kinetic energy spectra exhibit a range at low wavenumber which scales as 𝑘−3, where k denotes the horizontal wavenumber, with spectral amplitude that correlates with the square of the Brunt–Vaisala frequency at the same heights as the velocity measurements. The observed turbulent state exhibits a forward enstrophy cascade across all scales along with bidirectional energy transfer, which is evidenced by a reversal in the sign of the spectral energy flux at a scale proportional to the internal Rossby radius of deformation. These findings highlight the role of baroclinic instability in shaping the distribution of energy across scales with implications for synoptic-scale turbulent flows near Earth’s tropopause.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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- Files:
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(Preview, Accepted manuscript, pdf, 2.4MB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.1103/n2nj-dg5r
Authors
- Publisher:
- American Physical Society
- Journal:
- Physical Review Letters More from this journal
- Volume:
- 136
- Article number:
- 114101
- Publication date:
- 2026-03-20
- Acceptance date:
- 2026-02-10
- DOI:
- EISSN:
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1079-7114
- ISSN:
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0031-9007
- Language:
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English
- Pubs id:
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2381344
- Local pid:
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pubs:2381344
- Deposit date:
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2026-02-25
- ARK identifier:
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Ding et al
- Copyright date:
- 2026
- Rights statement:
- Published by the American Physical Society.
- Notes:
-
The author accepted manuscript (AAM) of this paper has been made available under the University of Oxford's Open Access Publications Policy, and a CC BY public copyright licence has been applied.
The author accepted manuscript (AAM) of this paper has been made available under the University of Oxford's Open Access Publications Policy, and a CC BY public copyright licence has been applied.
Supporting data can be found at: Stratification-dependent enstrophy-controlled regime in geostrophic turbulence.
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
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