Correction to: Variations of characteristic time scales in rotating stratified turbulence using a large parametric numerical study.

After publication of the paper, an error in computing the ratio γ of kinetic to potential energy transfer times has been detected, which has led the authors to amend two figures, as explained in the main text.

Depletion of nonlinearity in magnetohydrodynamic turbulence: Insights from analysis and simulations.

It is shown how suitably scaled, order-m moments, D_{m}^{±}, of the Elsässer vorticity fields in three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) can be used to identify three possible regimes for solutions of the MHD equations with magnetic Prandtl number P_{M}=1. These vorticity fields are defined by ω^{±}=curlz^{±}=ω±j, where z^{±} are Elsässer variables, and where ω and j are, respectively, the fluid vorticity and current density. This study follows recent developments in the study of three-dimensional Navier-Stokes fluid turbulence [Gibbon et al., Nonlinearity 27, 2605 (2014)NONLE50951-771510.1088/0951-7715/27/10/2605]. Our mathematical results are then compared with those from a variety of direct numerical simulations, which demonstrate that all solutions that have been investigated remain in only one of these regimes which has depleted nonlinearity. The exponents q^{±} that characterize the inertial range power-law dependencies of the z^{±} energy spectra, E^{±}(k), are then examined, and bounds are obtained. Comments are also made on  (a) the generalization of our results to the case P_{M}≠1 and (b) the relation between D_{m}^{±} and the order-m moments of gradients of magnetohydrodynamic fields, which are used to characterize intermittency in turbulent flows.

Variations of characteristic time scales in rotating stratified turbulence using a large parametric numerical study.

We study rotating stratified turbulence (RST) making use of numerical data stemming from a large parametric study varying the Reynolds, Froude and Rossby numbers, Re, Fr and Ro in a broad range of values. The computations are performed using periodic boundary conditions on grids of 1024(3) points, with no modeling of the small scales, no forcing and with large-scale random initial conditions for the velocity field only, and there are altogether 65 runs analyzed in this paper. The buoyancy Reynolds number defined as R(B) = ReFr2 varies from negligible values to ≈ 10(5), approaching atmospheric or oceanic regimes. This preliminary analysis deals with the variation of characteristic time scales of RST with dimensionless parameters, focusing on the role played by the partition of energy between the kinetic and potential modes, as a key ingredient for modeling the dynamics of such flows. We find that neither rotation nor the ratio of the Brunt-Väisälä frequency to the inertial frequency seem to play a major role in the absence of forcing in the global dynamics of the small-scale kinetic and potential modes. Specifically, in these computations, mostly in regimes of wave turbulence, characteristic times based on the ratio of energy to dissipation of the velocity and temperature fluctuations, T(V) and T(P), vary substantially with parameters. Their ratio γ=T(V)/T(P) follows roughly a bell-shaped curve in terms of Richardson number Ri. It reaches a plateau - on which time scales become comparable, γ≈0.6 - when the turbulence has significantly strengthened, leading to numerous destabilization events together with a tendency towards an isotropization of the flow.

Stably stratified turbulence in the presence of large-scale forcing.

We perform two high-resolution direct numerical simulations of stratified turbulence for Reynolds number equal to Re≈25000 and Froude number, respectively, of Fr≈0.1 and Fr≈0.03. The flows are forced at large scale and discretized on an isotropic grid of 2048(3) points. Stratification makes the flow anisotropic and introduces two extra characteristic scales with respect to homogeneous isotropic turbulence: the buoyancy scale, L(B), and the Ozmidov scale, ℓ(oz). The former is related to the number of layers that the flow develops in the direction of gravity, and the latter is regarded as the scale at which isotropy is recovered. The values of L(B) and ℓ(oz) depend on the Froude number, and their absolute and relative amplitudes affect the repartition of energy among Fourier modes in ways that are not easy to predict. By contrasting the behavior of the two simulated flows we identify some surprising similarities: After an initial transient the two flows evolve towards comparable values of the kinetic and potential enstrophy and energy dissipation rate. This is the result of the Reynolds number being large enough in both flows for the Ozmidov scale to be resolved. When properly dimensionalized, the energy dissipation rate is compatible with atmospheric observations. Further similarities emerge at large scales: The same ratio between potential and total energy (≈0.1) is spontaneously selected by the flows, and slow modes grow monotonically in both regimes, causing a slow increase of the total energy in time. The axisymmetric total energy spectrum shows a wide variety of spectral slopes as a function of the angle between the imposed stratification and the wave vector. One-dimensional energy spectra computed in the direction parallel to gravity are flat from the forcing up to buoyancy scale. At intermediate scales a ∼k(-3) parallel spectrum develops for the Fr≈0.03 run, whereas for weaker stratification, the saturation spectrum does not have enough scales to develop and instead one observes a power law compatible with Kolmogorov scaling. Finally, the spectrum of helicity is flat until L(B), as observed in the nocturnal planetary boundary layer.

Resolving the paradox of oceanic large-scale balance and small-scale mixing.

A puzzle of oceanic dynamics is the contrast between the observed geostrophic balance, involving gravity, pressure gradient, and Coriolis forces, and the necessary turbulent transport: in the former case, energy flows to large scales, leading to spectral condensation, whereas in the latter, it is transferred to small scales, where dissipation prevails. The known bidirectional constant-flux energy cascade maintaining both geostrophic balance and mixing tends towards flux equilibration as turbulence strengthens, contradicting models and recent observations which find a dominant large-scale flux. Analyzing a large ensemble of high-resolution direct numerical simulations of the Boussinesq equations in the presence of rotation and no salinity, we show that the ratio of the dual energy flux to large and to small scales agrees with observations, and we predict that it scales with the inverse of the Froude and Rossby numbers when stratification is (realistically) stronger than rotation. Furthermore, we show that the kinetic and potential energies separately undergo a bidirectional transfer to larger and smaller scales. Altogether, this allows for small-scale mixing which drives the global oceanic circulation and will thus potentially lead to more accurate modeling of climate dynamics.

Magnetic field reversals and long-time memory in conducting flows.

Employing a simple ideal magnetohydrodynamic model in spherical geometry, we show that the presence of either rotation or finite magnetic helicity is sufficient to induce dynamical reversals of the magnetic dipole moment. The statistical character of the model is similar to that of terrestrial magnetic field reversals, with the similarity being stronger when rotation is present. The connection between long-time correlations, 1/f noise, and statistics of reversals is supported, consistent with earlier suggestions.

Large-scale anisotropy in stably stratified rotating flows.

We present results from direct numerical simulations of the Boussinesq equations in the presence of rotation and/or stratification, both in the vertical direction. The runs are forced isotropically and randomly at small scales and have spatial resolutions of up to 1024(3) grid points and Reynolds numbers of ≈1000. We first show that solutions with negative energy flux and inverse cascades develop in rotating turbulence, whether or not stratification is present. However, the purely stratified case is characterized instead by an early-time, highly anisotropic transfer to large scales with almost zero net isotropic energy flux. This is consistent with previous studies that observed the development of vertically sheared horizontal winds, although only at substantially later times. However, and unlike previous works, when sufficient scale separation is allowed between the forcing scale and the domain size, the kinetic energy displays a perpendicular (horizontal) spectrum with power-law behavior compatible with ∼k(⊥)(-5/3), including in the absence of rotation. In this latter purely stratified case, such a spectrum is the result of a direct cascade of the energy contained in the large-scale horizontal wind, as is evidenced by a strong positive flux of energy in the parallel direction at all scales including the largest resolved scales.

Turbulence comes in bursts in stably stratified flows.

There is a clear distinction between simple laminar and complex turbulent fluids; however, in some cases, as for the nocturnal planetary boundary layer, a stable and well-ordered flow can develop intense and sporadic bursts of turbulent activity that disappear slowly in time. This phenomenon is ill understood and poorly modeled and yet it is central to our understanding of weather and climate dynamics. We present here data from direct numerical simulations of stratified turbulence on grids of 20483 points that display the somewhat paradoxical result of measurably stronger events for more stable flows, not only in the temperature and vertical velocity derivatives as commonplace in turbulence, but also in the amplitude of the fields themselves, contrary to what happens for homogenous isotropic turbulent flows. A flow visualization suggests that the extreme values take place in Kelvin-Helmoltz overturning events and fronts that develop in the field variables. These results are confirmed by the analysis of a simple model that we present. The model takes into consideration only the vertical velocity and temperature fluctuations and their vertical derivatives. It indicates that in stably stratified turbulence, the stronger bursts can occur when the flow is expected to be more stable. The bursts are generated by a rapid nonlinear amplification of energy stored in waves and are associated with energetic interchanges between vertical velocity and temperature (or density) fluctuations in a range of parameters corresponding to the well-known saturation regime of stratified turbulence.

Forced magnetohydrodynamic turbulence in three dimensions using Taylor-Green symmetries.

We examine the scaling laws of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence for three different types of forcing functions and imposing at all times the fourfold symmetries of the Taylor-Green (TG) vortex generalized to MHD; no uniform magnetic field is present and the magnetic Prandtl number is equal to unity. We also include pumping in the induction equation, and we take the three configurations studied in the decaying case in Lee et al. [Phys. Rev. E 81, 016318 (2010)]. To that effect, we employ direct numerical simulations up to an equivalent resolution of 20483 grid points. We find that, similarly to the case when the forcing is absent, different spectral indices for the total energy spectrum emerge, corresponding to either a Kolmogorov law, an Iroshnikov-Kraichnan law that arises from the interactions of turbulent eddies and Alfvén waves, or to weak turbulence when the large-scale magnetic field is strong. We also examine the inertial range dynamics in terms of the ratios of kinetic to magnetic energy, and of the turnover time to the Alfvén time, and analyze the temporal variations of these quasiequilibria.

Helicity dynamics in stratified turbulence in the absence of forcing.

A numerical study of decaying stably stratified flows is performed. Relatively high stratification (Froude number ≈10(-2)-10(-1)) and moderate Reynolds (Re) numbers (Re≈ 3-6×10(3)) are considered and a particular emphasis is placed on the role of helicity (velocity-vorticity correlations), which is not an invariant of the nondissipative equations. The problem is tackled by integrating the Boussinesq equations in a periodic cubical domain using different initial conditions: a nonhelical Taylor-Green (TG) flow, a fully helical Beltrami [Arnold-Beltrami-Childress (ABC)] flow, and random flows with a tunable helicity. We show that for stratified ABC flows helicity undergoes a substantially slower decay than for unstratified ABC flows. This fact is likely associated to the combined effect of stratification and large-scale coherent structures. Indeed, when the latter are missing, as in random flows, helicity is rapidly destroyed by the onset of gravitational waves. A type of large-scale dissipative "cyclostrophic" balance can be invoked to explain this behavior. No production of helicity is observed, contrary to the case of rotating and stratified flows. When helicity survives in the system, it strongly affects the temporal energy decay and the energy distribution among Fourier modes. We discover in fact that the decay rate of energy for stratified helical flows is much slower than for stratified nonhelical flows and can be considered with a phenomenological model in a way similar to what is done for unstratified rotating flows. We also show that helicity, when strong, has a measurable effect on the Fourier spectra, in particular at scales larger than the buoyancy scale, for which it displays a rather flat scaling associated with vertical shear, as observed in the planetary boundary layer.

Ideal evolution of magnetohydrodynamic turbulence when imposing Taylor-Green symmetries.

We investigate the ideal and incompressible magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations in three space dimensions for the development of potentially singular structures. The methodology consists in implementing the fourfold symmetries of the Taylor-Green vortex generalized to MHD, leading to substantial computer time and memory savings at a given resolution; we also use a regridding method that allows for lower-resolution runs at early times, with no loss of spectral accuracy. One magnetic configuration is examined at an equivalent resolution of 6144(3) points and three different configurations on grids of 4096(3) points. At the highest resolution, two different current and vorticity sheet systems are found to collide, producing two successive accelerations in the development of small scales. At the latest time, a convergence of magnetic field lines to the location of maximum current is probably leading locally to a strong bending and directional variability of such lines. A novel analytical method, based on sharp analysis inequalities, is used to assess the validity of the finite-time singularity scenario. This method allows one to rule out spurious singularities by evaluating the rate at which the logarithmic decrement of the analyticity-strip method goes to zero. The result is that the finite-time singularity scenario cannot be ruled out, and the singularity time could be somewhere between t=2.33 and t=2.70. More robust conclusions will require higher resolution runs and grid-point interpolation measurements of maximum current and vorticity.

Geophysical turbulence and the duality of the energy flow across scales.

The ocean and the atmosphere, and hence the climate, are governed at large scale by interactions between pressure gradient and Coriolis and buoyancy forces. This leads to a quasigeostrophic balance in which, in a two-dimensional-like fashion, the energy injected by solar radiation, winds, or tides goes to large scales in what is known as an inverse cascade. Yet, except for Ekman friction, energy dissipation and turbulent mixing occur at a small scale implying the formation of such scales associated with breaking of geostrophic dynamics through wave-eddy interactions or frontogenesis, in opposition to the inverse cascade. Can it be both at the same time? We exemplify here this dual behavior of energy with the help of three-dimensional direct numerical simulations of rotating stratified Boussinesq turbulence. We show that efficient small-scale mixing and large-scale coherence develop simultaneously in such geophysical and astrophysical flows, both with constant flux as required by theoretical arguments, thereby clearly resolving the aforementioned contradiction.

High Reynolds number magnetohydrodynamic turbulence using a Lagrangian model.

With the help of a model of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence tested previously, we explore high Reynolds number regimes up to equivalent resolutions of 6000(3) grid points in the absence of forcing and with no imposed uniform magnetic field. For the given initial condition chosen here, with equal kinetic and magnetic energy, the flow ends up being dominated by the magnetic field, and the dynamics leads to an isotropic Iroshnikov-Kraichnan energy spectrum. However, the locally anisotropic magnetic field fluctuations perpendicular to the local mean field follow a Kolmogorov law. We find that the ratio of the eddy turnover time to the Alfvén time increases with wave number, contrary to the so-called critical balance hypothesis. Residual energy and helicity spectra are also considered; the role played by the conservation of magnetic helicity is studied, and scaling laws are found for the magnetic helicity and residual helicity spectra. We put these results in the context of the dynamics of a globally isotropic MHD flow that is locally anisotropic because of the influence of the strong large-scale magnetic field, leading to a partial equilibration between kinetic and magnetic modes for the energy and the helicity.

Emergence of very long time fluctuations and 1/f noise in ideal flows.

This paper shows the connection between three previously observed but seemingly unrelated phenomena in hydrodynamic (HD) and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulent flows, involving the emergence of fluctuations occurring on very long time scales: the low-frequency 1/f noise in the power frequency spectrum, the delayed ergodicity of complex valued amplitude fluctuations in wave number space, and the spontaneous flippings or reversals of large-scale fields. Direct numerical simulations of ideal MHD and HD are employed in three space dimensions, at low resolution, for long periods of time, and with high accuracy to study several cases: different geometries, presence of rotation and/or a uniform magnetic field, and different values of the associated conserved global quantities. It is conjectured that the origin of all these long-time phenomena is rooted in the interaction of the longest wavelength fluctuations available to the system, with fluctuations at much smaller scales. The strength of this nonlocal interaction is controlled either by the existence of conserved global quantities with a back-transfer in Fourier space or by the presence of a slow manifold in the dynamics.

Conformal invariance in three-dimensional rotating turbulence.

We examine turbulent flows in the presence of solid-body rotation and helical forcing in the framework of stochastic Schramm-Löwner evolution (SLE) curves. The data stem from a run with 1536³ grid points, with Reynolds and Rossby numbers of, respectively, 5100 and 0.06. We average the parallel component of the vorticity in the direction parallel to that of rotation and examine the resulting <ω(z)>(z) field for scaling properties of its zero-value contours. We find for the first time for three-dimensional fluid turbulence evidence of nodal curves being conformal invariant, belonging to a SLE class with associated Brownian diffusivity κ = 3.6 ± 0.1. SLE behavior is related to the self-similarity of the direct cascade of energy to small scales and to the partial bidimensionalization of the flow because of rotation. We recover the value of κ with a heuristic argument and show that this is consistent with several nontrivial SLE predictions.

Large-scale behavior and statistical equilibria in rotating flows.

We examine long-time properties of the ideal dynamics of three-dimensional flows, in the presence or not of an imposed solid-body rotation and with or without helicity (velocity-vorticity correlation). In all cases, the results agree with the isotropic predictions stemming from statistical mechanics. No accumulation of excitation occurs in the large scales, although, in the dissipative rotating case, anisotropy and accumulation, in the form of an inverse cascade of energy, are known to occur. We attribute this latter discrepancy to the linearity of the term responsible for the emergence of inertial waves. At intermediate times, inertial energy spectra emerge that differ somewhat from classical wave-turbulence expectations and with a trace of large-scale excitation that goes away for long times. These results are discussed in the context of partial two dimensionalization of the flow undergoing strong rotation as advocated by several authors.

Lack of universality in decaying magnetohydrodynamic turbulence.

Using computations of three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence with a Taylor-Green flow, whose inherent time-independent symmetries are implemented numerically, and in the absence of either a forcing function or an imposed uniform magnetic field, we show that three different inertial ranges for the energy spectrum may emerge for three different initial magnetic fields, the selecting parameter being the ratio of nonlinear eddy to Alfvén time. Equivalent computational grids range from 128(3) to 2048(3) points with a unit magnetic Prandtl number and a Taylor Reynolds number of up to 1500 at the peak of dissipation. We also show a convergence of our results with Reynolds number. Our study is consistent with previous findings of a variety of energy spectra in MHD turbulence by studies performed in the presence of both a forcing term with a given correlation time and a strong, uniform magnetic field. However, in contrast to the previous studies, here the ratio of characteristic time scales can only be ascribed to the intrinsic nonlinear dynamics of the paradigmatic flows under study.

The interplay between helicity and rotation in turbulence: implications for scaling laws and small-scale dynamics.

Invariance properties of physical systems govern their behaviour: energy conservation in turbulence drives a wide distribution of energy among modes, as observed in geophysical or astrophysical flows. In ideal hydrodynamics, the role of the invariance of helicity (correlation between velocity and its curl, measuring departures from mirror symmetry) remains unclear since it does not alter the energy spectrum. However, in the presence of rotation, significant differences emerge between helical and non-helical turbulent flows. We first briefly outline some of the issues such as the partition of energy and helicity among modes. Using massive numerical simulations, we then show that small-scale structures and their intermittency properties differ according to whether helicity is present or not, in particular with respect to the emergence of Beltrami core vortices that are laminar helical vertical updraft vortices. These results point to the discovery of a small parameter besides the Rossby number, a fact that would relate the problem of rotating helical turbulence to that of critical phenomena, through the renormalization group and weak-turbulence theory. This parameter can be associated with the adimensionalized ratio of the energy to helicity flux to small scales, the three-dimensional energy cascade being weak and self-similar.

Structures in magnetohydrodynamic turbulence: detection and scaling.

We present a systematic analysis of statistical properties of turbulent current and vorticity structures at a given time using cluster analysis. The data stem from numerical simulations of decaying three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic turbulence in the absence of an imposed uniform magnetic field; the magnetic Prandtl number is taken equal to unity, and we use a periodic box with grids of up to 1536³ points and with Taylor Reynolds numbers up to 1100. The initial conditions are either an X -point configuration embedded in three dimensions, the so-called Orszag-Tang vortex, or an Arn'old-Beltrami-Childress configuration with a fully helical velocity and magnetic field. In each case two snapshots are analyzed, separated by one turn-over time, starting just after the peak of dissipation. We show that the algorithm is able to select a large number of structures (in excess of 8000) for each snapshot and that the statistical properties of these clusters are remarkably similar for the two snapshots as well as for the two flows under study in terms of scaling laws for the cluster characteristics, with the structures in the vorticity and in the current behaving in the same way. We also study the effect of Reynolds number on cluster statistics, and we finally analyze the properties of these clusters in terms of their velocity-magnetic-field correlation. Self-organized criticality features have been identified in the dissipative range of scales. A different scaling arises in the inertial range, which cannot be identified for the moment with a known self-organized criticality class consistent with magnetohydrodynamics. We suggest that this range can be governed by turbulence dynamics as opposed to criticality and propose an interpretation of intermittency in terms of propagation of local instabilities.

Finite dissipation and intermittency in magnetohydrodynamics.

We present an analysis of data stemming from numerical simulations of decaying magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence up to grid resolution of 1536(3) points and up to Taylor Reynolds number of approximately 1200 . The initial conditions are such that the initial velocity and magnetic fields are helical and in equipartition, while their correlation is negligible. Analyzing the data at the peak of dissipation, we show that the dissipation in MHD seems to asymptote to a constant as the Reynolds number increases, thereby strengthening the possibility of fast reconnection events in the solar environment for very large Reynolds numbers. Furthermore, intermittency of MHD flows, as determined by the spectrum of anomalous exponents of structure functions of the velocity and the magnetic field, is stronger than that of fluids, confirming earlier results; however, we also find that there is a measurable difference between the exponents of the velocity and those of the magnetic field, reminiscent of recent solar wind observations. Finally, we discuss the spectral scaling laws that arise in this flow.