How Waves Organise Turbulence

Astrophysical and geophysical flows are almost invariably turbulent and populated by a rich variety of internal waves motions, with the latter organising the former. For example, turbulence in the interior of the planets is dominated by inertial waves which organise the turbulence into long-lived columnar vortices, strongly stratified turbulence is populated by internal gravity waves which promote flat, pancake-like vortices, solar wind turbulence is shaped by Alfven waves, and the zonal (east-west) flows in the atmosphere of the gas giants is thought to be caused by Rossby waves. The mechanisms by which these waves shape the turbulence have been much discussed, yet there is still little agreement as to the underlying mechanisms. Traditionally, much emphasis has been placed on weakly non-linear models, such as resonant triad theory, but recently this has been strongly challenged.