The maintenance of coherent vortex topology by Lagrangian chaos in drift-Rossby wave turbulence

• DOI: 10.1063/5.0207687
• Publication Date: 2024-06-03T09:52:36Z
• Authors: Norman M. Cao; Di Qi
• Keywords: Enstrophy; Lagrangian Coherent Structures

This work introduces the “potential vorticity bucket brigade,” a mechanism for explaining resilience of vortex structures in magnetically confined fusion plasmas and geophysical flows. Drawing parallels with zonal jet formation, we show how inhomogeneous patterns mixing can reinforce, rather than destroy non-zonal flow structure. We accomplish this through an exact stochastic Lagrangian representation transport, together near-integrability property, which relates coherent topology to fluid relabeling symmetries. demonstrate these ideas context gradient-driven magnetized plasma turbulence, though tools develop here are model-agnostic applicable beyond system studied here.