Dimension Measurements for Geostrophic Turbulence

Abstract

The transition to geostrophic turbulence in a rotating annulus experiment has characteristics which differ from the scenarios for the transition to turbulence which have been previously described. Estimates of dimension from the experimental data suggest a mechanism in which a discrete symmetry of the preturbulent state plays an important role. The techniques used for the dimension estimates are new and substantially more efficient than those used previously.