Can the atmospheric kinetic energy spectrum be explained by two-dimensional turbulence?

摘要

Structure function relations for 2D turbulence are derived and compared with calculations based on wind data from 5754 airplane flights. Two relations are derived for the third order structure function, showing that this function is generally positive in 2D case, contrary to the 3D case. The third order structure function grows linearly with separation distance in the energy inertial range. In the enstrophy inertial range, the third order structure function grows cubically with separation distance. A Fourier analysis shows that the linear growth is a reflection of a constant negative spectral energy flux, and cubic growth is a reflection of a constant positive spectral enstrophy flux.