Rotation and shear flows are an ubiquitous features of many astrophysical and geophysical bodies, playing a crucial role in turbulent transport. To understand the complex dynamics in these systems, we provide a consistent theory of turbulence in the presence of shear and rotation. Starting from a quasi-linear equation for the fluctuating fields, we derive turbulence amplitude and turbulent tran...

Rotation and shear flows are ubiquitous features of many astrophysical and geophysical bodies. To understand their origin and effect on turbulent transport in these systems, we consider a forced turbulence and investigate the combined effect of rotation and shear flow on the turbulence properties. Specifically, we study how rotation and flow shear influence the generation of shear flow (e.g., t...

Large-eddy simulation (LES) is used to investigate turbulence in a marginally-unstable stratified shear layer motivated by the observation of deep-cycle turbulence in the upper Equatorial Undercurrents. The initial condition consists of uniform shear and stratification profiles, and a constant gradient Richardson number Rig = 0.25. A constant wind stress forces turbulence in the upper surface l...

The nonlinear mean-field dynamo due to a shear-current effect in a nonhelical homogeneous turbulence with a mean velocity shear is discussed. The transport of magnetic helicity as a dynamical nonlinearity is taken into account. The shear-current effect is associated with the W×J term in the mean electromotive force, where W is the mean vorticity due to the large-scale shear motions and J is the...

The probability distribution functions (PDFs) of momentum flux and zonal flow formation in ion-temperature-gradient (ITG) turbulence are investigated, including the effect of the shear flow on the PDFs. While ITG turbulence maintains high level of transport, this may be suppressed by shear flow. Zonal flows are also shown here to have an enhanced likelihood of generation further from marginal s...

[1] Velocity, temperature, and specific humidity data collected by aircraft at 20-Hz resolution are analyzed for stability and turbulence parameters. Over 100 vertical profiles (mostly over the ocean) with a total of over 300 km in vertical airspace sampled are used. The compiled statistics show that anisotropy in the velocity fluctuations prevail down to the smallest spatial separations measur...

Forced turbulence combined with the effect of rotation and shear flow is studied. In a previous paper [N. Leprovost and E. J. Kim, Phys. Rev. E 78, 016301 (2008)], we considered the case where the shear and the rotation are perpendicular. Here, we consider the complementary case of parallel rotation and shear, elucidating how rotation and flow shear influence the generation of shear flow (e.g.,...

We demonstrate an unexpected connection between isotropic turbulence and wall-bounded shear flows. We perform direct numerical simulations of isotropic turbulence forced at large scales at moderate Reynolds numbers and observe sudden transitions from a chaotic dynamics to a spatially simple flow, analogous to the laminar state in wall bounded shear flows. We find that the survival probabilities...

To elucidate the influence of shear flow on the generation of magnetic field (the dynamo effect), we study the kinematic limit where the magnetic field does not backreact on the velocity field. By non-perturbatively incorporating the effect of shear in a helically forced turbulence, we show that turbulence intensity and turbulent transport coefficients (turbulent viscosity, α and β effect) are ...

Aims. We study the effect of rotation on sheared turbulence, due to differential rotation in the solar tachocline. Methods. By solving quasi-linear equations for the fluctuating fields, we derive turbulence amplitude and turbulent transport coefficients (turbulent viscosity and diffusivity), taking into account the effects of shear and rotation on turbulence. We focus on the tachocline regions ...