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Synoptic-scale eddy variance and fluxes of heat and momentum in midlatitude jets are sensitive to small changes in mean jet velocity, dissipation, and static stability, In this work the change in the jet producing the greatest increase in variance or flux is determined. Remarkably, a single jet structure change completely characterizes the sensitivity of a chosen quadratic statistical quantity to modification of the mean jet in the sense that an arbitrary change in the jet influences a chosen statistical quantity in proportion to the projection of the change on this single optimal structure. The method used extends previous work in which storm track statistics were obtained using a stochastic model of jet turbulence.

Simulations of strongly stratified turbulence often exhibit coherent large-scale structures called vertically sheared horizontal flows (VSHFs). VSHFs emerge in both two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) stratified turbulence with similar vertical structure. The mechanism responsible for VSHF formation is not fully understood. In this work, the formation and equilibration of VSHFs in a 2D Boussinesq model of stratified turbulence is studied using statistical state dynamics (SSD). In SSD, equations of motion are expressed directly in the statistical variables of the turbulent state. Restriction to 2D turbulence facilitates application of an analytically and computationally attractive implementation of SSD referred to as S3T, in which the SSD is expressed by coupling the equation for the horizontal mean structure with the equation for the ensemble mean perturbation covariance. This second-order SSD produces accurate statistics, through second order, when compared with fully nonlinear simulations. In particular, S3T captures the spontaneous emergence of the VSHF and associated density layers seen in simulations of turbulence maintained by homogeneous large-scale stochastic excitation. An advantage of the S3T system is that the VSHF formation mechanism, which is wave-mean flow interaction between the emergent VSHF and the stochastically excited large-scale gravity waves, is analytically understood in the S3T system. Comparison with fully nonlinear simulations verifies that S3T solutions accurately predict the scale selection, dependence on stochastic excitation strength, and nonlinear equilibrium structure of the VSHF. These results constitute a theory for VSHF formation applicable to interpreting simulations and observations of geophysical examples of turbulent jets such as the ocean's equatorial deep jets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jets coexist with planetary-scale waves in the turbulence of planetary atmospheres. The coherent component of these structures arises from cooperative interaction between the coherent structures and the incoherent small-scale turbulence in which they are embedded. It follows that theoretical understanding of the dynamics of jets and planetary-scale waves requires adopting the perspective of statistical state dynamics (SSD), which comprises the dynamics of the interaction between coherent and incoherent components in the turbulent state. In this work, the stochastic structural stability theory (S3T) implementation of SSD for barotropic beta-plane turbulence is used to develop a theory for the jet-wave coexistence regime by separating the coherent motions consisting of the zonal jets together with a selection of large-scale waves from the smaller-scale motions that constitute the incoherent component. It is found that mean flow-turbulence interaction gives rise to jets that coexist with large-scale coherent waves in a synergistic manner. Large-scale waves that would exist only as damped modes in the laminar jet are found to be transformed into exponentially growing waves by interaction with the incoherent small-scale turbulence, which results in a change in the mode structure, allowing the mode to tap the energy of the mean jet. This mechanism of destabilization differs fundamentally and serves to augment the more familiar S3T instabilities in which jets and waves arise from homogeneous turbulence with the energy source exclusively from the incoherent eddy field and provides further insight into the cooperative dynamics of the jet-wave coexistence regime in planetary turbulence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we examine the turbulence maintained in a Restricted Nonlinear (RNL) model of plane Couette flow. This model is a computationally efficient approximation of the second order statistical state dynamics obtained by partitioning the flow into a streamwise averaged mean flow and perturbations about that mean, a closure referred to herein as the RNL∞ model. The RNL model investigated here employs a single member of the infinite ensemble that comprises the covariance of the RNL∞ dynamics. The RNL system has previously been shown to support self-sustaining turbulence with a mean flow and structural features that are consistent with direct numerical simulations (DNS). Regardless of the number of streamwise Fourier components used in the simulation, the RNL system's self-sustaining turbulent state is supported by a small number of streamwise varying modes. Remarkably, further truncation of the RNL system's support to as few as one streamwise varying mode can suffice to sustain the turbulent state. The close correspondence between RNL simulations and DNS that has been previously demonstrated along with the results presented here suggest that the fundamental mechanisms underlying wall-turbulence can be analyzed using these highly simplified RNL systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Streamwise rolls and accompanying streamwise streaks are ubiquitous in wall-bounded shear flows, both in natural settings, such as the atmospheric boundary layer, as well as in controlled settings, such as laboratory experiments and numerical simulations. The streamwise roll and streak structure has been associated with both transition from the laminar to the turbulent state and with maintenance of the turbulent state. This close association of the streamwise roll and streak structure with the transition to and maintenance of turbulence in wall-bounded shear flow has engendered intense theoretical interest in the dynamics of this structure. In this work, stochastic structural stability theory (SSST) is applied to the problem of understanding the dynamics of the streamwise roll and streak structure. The method of analysis used in SSST comprises a stochastic turbulence model (STM) for the dynamics of perturbations from the streamwise-averaged flow coupled to the associated streamwise-averaged flow dynamics. The result is an autonomous, deterministic, nonlinear dynamical system for evolving a second-order statistical mean approximation of the turbulent state. SSST analysis reveals a robust interaction between streamwise roll and streak structures and turbulent perturbations in which the perturbations are systematically organized through their interaction with the streak to produce Reynolds stresses that coherently force the associated streamwise roll structure. If a critical value of perturbation turbulence intensity is exceeded, this feedback results in modal instability of the combined streamwise roll/streak and associated turbulence complex in the SSST system. In this instability, the perturbations producing the destabilizing Reynolds stresses are predicted by the STM to take the form of oblique structures, which is consistent with observations. In the SSST system this instability exists together with the transient growth process. These processes cooperate in determining the structure of growing streamwise roll and streak. For this reason, comparison of SSST predictions with experiments requires accounting for both the amplitude and structure of initial perturbations as well as the influence of the SSST instability. Over a range of supercritical turbulence intensities in Couette flow, this instability equilibrates to form finite amplitude time-independent streamwise roll and streak structures. At sufficiently high levels of forcing of the perturbation field, equilibration of the streamwise roll and streak structure does not occur and the flow transitions to a time-dependent state. This time-dependent state is self-sustaining in the sense that it persists when the forcing is removed. Moreover, this self-sustaining state rapidly evolves toward a minimal representation of wall-bounded shear flow turbulence in which the dynamics is limited to interaction of the streamwise-averaged flow with a perturbation structure at one streamwise wavenumber. In this minimal realization of the self-sustaining process, the time-dependent streamwise roll and streak structure is maintained by perturbation Reynolds stresses, just as is the case of the time-independent streamwise roll and streak equilibria. However, the perturbation field is maintained not by exogenously forced turbulence, but rather by an endogenous and essentially non-modal parametric growth process that is inherent to time-dependent dynamical systems. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Coherent jets, such as the Jovian banded winds, are a prominent feature of rotating turbulence. Shallow-water turbulence models capture the essential mechanism of jet formation, which is systematic eddy momentum flux directed up the mean velocity gradient. Understanding how this systematic eddy flux convergence is maintained and how the mean zonal flow and the eddy field mutually adjust to produce the observed jet structure constitutes a fundamental theoretical problem. In this work a shallow-water equatorial beta-plane model implementation of stochastic structural stability theory (SSST) is used to study the mechanism of zonal jet formation. In SSST a stochastic model for the ensemble-mean turbulent eddy fluxes is coupled with an equation for the mean jet dynamics to produce a nonlinear model of the mutual adjustment between the field of turbulent eddies and the zonal jets. In weak turbulence, and for parameters appropriate to Jupiter, both prograde and retrograde equatorial jets are found to be stable solutions of the SSST system, but only the prograde equatorial jet remains stable in strong turbulence. In addition to the equatorial jet, multiple midlatitude zonal jets are also maintained in these stable SSST equilibria. These midlatitude jets have structure and spacing in agreement with observed zonal jets and exhibit the observed robust reversals in sign of both absolute and potential vorticity gradient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the physical mechanism maintaining fluid turbulence remains a fundamental theoretical problem. The two-layer model is an analytically and computationally simple system in which the dynamics of turbulence can be conveniently studied; in this work, a maximally simplified model of the statistically steady turbulent state in this system is constructed to isolate and identify the essential mechanism of turbulence. In this minimally complex turbulence model the effects of nonlinearity are parameterized using an energetically consistent stochastic process that is white in both space and time, turbulent fluxes are obtained using a stochastic turbulence model (STM), and statistically steady turbulent states are identified using stochastic structural stability theory (SSST). These turbulent states are the fixed-point equilibria of the nonlinear SSST system. For parameter values typical of the midlatitude atmosphere, these equilibria predict the emergence of marginally stable eddy-driven baroclinic jets. The eddy variances and fluxes associated with these jets and the power-law scaling of eddy variances and fluxes are consistent with observations and simulations of baroclinic turbulence. This optimally simple model isolates the essential physics of baroclinic turbulence: maintenance of variance by transient perturbation growth, replenishment of the transiently growing subspace by nonlinear energetically conservative eddy–eddy scattering, and equilibration to a statistically steady state of marginal stability by a combination of nonlinear eddy-induced mean jet modification and eddy dissipation. These statistical equilibrium states provide a theory for the general circulation of baroclinically turbulent planetary atmospheres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turbulent fluids are frequently observed to spontaneously self-organize into large spatial-scale jets; geophysical examples of this phenomenon include the Jovian banded winds and the earth’s polar-front jet. These relatively steady large-scale jets arise from and are maintained by the smaller spatial- and temporal-scale turbulence with which they coexist. Frequently these jets are found to be adjusted into marginally stable states that support large transient growth. In this work, a comprehensive theory for the interaction of jets with turbulence, stochastic structural stability theory (SSST), is applied to the two-layer baroclinic model with the object of elucidating the physical mechanism producing and maintaining baroclinic jets, understanding how jet amplitude, structure, and spacing is controlled, understanding the role of parameters such as the temperature gradient and static stability in determining jet structure, understanding the phenomenon of abrupt reorganization of jet structure as a function of parameter change, and understanding the general mechanism by which turbulent jets adjust to marginally stable states supporting large transient growth. When the mean thermal forcing is weak so that the mean jet is stable in the absence of turbulence, jets emerge as an instability of the coupled system consisting of the mean jet dynamics and the ensemble mean eddy dynamics. Destabilization of this SSST coupled system occurs as a critical turbulence level is exceeded. At supercritical turbulence levels the unstable jet grows, at first exponentially, but eventually equilibrates nonlinearly into stable states of mutual adjustment between the mean flow and turbulence. The jet structure, amplitude, and spacing can be inferred from these equilibria. With weak mean thermal forcing and weak but supercritical turbulence levels, the equilibrium jet structure is nearly barotropic. Under strong mean thermal forcing, so that the mean jet is unstable in the absence of turbulence, marginally stable highly nonnormal equilibria emerge that support high transient growth and produce power-law relations between, for example, heat flux and temperature gradient. The origin of this power-law behavior can be traced to the nonnormality of the adjusted states. As the stochastic excitation, mean baroclinic forcing, or the static stability are changed, meridionally confined jets that are in equilibrium at a given meridional wavenumber abruptly reorganize to another meridional wavenumber at critical values of these parameters. The equilibrium jets obtained with this theory are in remarkable agreement with equilibrium jets obtained in simulations of baroclinic turbulence, and the phenomenon of discontinuous reorganization of confined jets has important implications for storm-track reorganization and abrupt climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turbulent flows are often observed to be organized into large-spatial-scale jets such as the familiar zonal jets in the upper levels of the Jovian atmosphere. These relatively steady large-scale jets are not forced coherently but are maintained by the much smaller spatial- and temporal-scale turbulence with which they coexist. The turbulence maintaining the jets may arise from exogenous sources such as small-scale convection or from endogenous sources such as eddy generation associated with baroclinic development processes within the jet itself. Recently a comprehensive theory for the interaction of jets with turbulence has been developed called stochastic structural stability theory (SSST). In this work SSST is used to study the formation of multiple jets in barotropic turbulence in order to understand the physical mechanism producing and maintaining these jets and, specifically, to predict the jet amplitude, structure, and spacing. These jets are shown to be maintained by the continuous spectrum of shear waves and to be organized into stable attracting states in the mutually adjusted mean flow and turbulence fields. The jet structure, amplitude, and spacing and the turbulence level required for emergence of jets can be inferred from these equilibria. For weak but supercritical turbulence levels the jet scale is determined by the most unstable mode of the SSST system and the amplitude of the jets at equilibrium is determined by the balance between eddy forcing and mean flow dissipation. At stronger turbulence levels the jet amplitude saturates with jet spacing and amplitude satisfying the Rayleigh–Kuo stability condition that implies the Rhines scale. Equilibrium jets obtained with the SSST system are in remarkable agreement with equilibrium jets obtained in simulations of fully developed β-plane turbulence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turbulence in fluids is commonly observed to coexist with relatively large spatial and temporal scale coherent jets. These jets may be steady, vacillate with a definite period, or be irregular. A comprehensive theory for this phenomenon is presented based on the mutual interaction between the coherent jet and the turbulent eddies. When a sufficient number of statistically independent realizations of the eddy field participate in organizing the jet a simplified asymptotic dynamics emerges with progression, as an order parameter such as the eddy forcing is increased, from a stable fixed point associated with a steady symmetric zonal jet through a pitchfork bifurcation to a stable asymmetric jet followed by a Hopf bifurcation to a stable limit cycle associated with a regularly vacillating jet and finally a transition to chaos. This underlying asymptotic dynamics emerges when a sufficient number of ensemble members is retained in the stochastic forcing of the jet but a qualitative different mean jet dynamics is found when a small number of ensemble members is retained as is appropriate for many physical systems. Example applications of this theory are presented including a model of midlatitude jet vacillation, emergence and maintenance of multiple jets in turbulent flow, a model of rapid reorganization of storm tracks as a threshold in radiative forcing is passed, and a model of the quasi-biennial oscillation. Because the statistically coupled wave–mean flow system discussed is generally globally stable this system also forms the basis for a comprehensive theory for equilibration of unstable jets in turbulent shear flow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence, both theoretical and experimental, is accumulating to support a mechanism for transition to turbulence in shear flow based on the 3-D secondary instability of finite 2-D departures from plane parallelism. It is of central importance for using this mechanism to understand how the finite amplitude 2-D disturbances arise. To be sure, it is possible that in many experiments the disturbance is produced by the intervention of a mechanism that directly injects the requisite disturbance energy without calling on the store of kinetic energy inherent in the shear flow. It is shown here that it is also possible to tap the mean shear energy using properly configured perturbations that develop into the required primary disturbance on time scales comparable to those associated with the secondary instabilities even though the shear flow is stable or supports, at most, weak exponential instability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attempts to extend the theory of stochastically forced non-normal dynamical systems to explore the possibility of controlling the turbulent transition process and of suppressing fully developed shear turbulence in fluid systems. Emergence of two distinct active control mechanisms that produce suppression of turbulent energy.

The mean streak spacing of approximately 100 wall units that is observed in wall-bounded turbulent shear flow is shown to be consistent with near-wall streamwise vortices optimally configured to gain the most energy over an appropriate turbulent eddy turnover time. The streak spacing arising from the optimal perturbation increases with distance from the wall and is nearly independent of Reynolds number, in agreement with experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]