Understanding winds: energy transfer in turbulent rotating fluids

To understand the energy distribution in rotating turbulent fluids, such as the Earth's atmosphere and oceans, we need reliable first principle physics models and novel methods of turbulence analysis. Laboratory experiments along with numerical simulations revolutionized turbulence research in the 21st century. This project will develop a new technique of spectral energy transfer measurement in turbulence capable of measuring energy fluxes in rotating fluids. Several hypotheses of the zonal flow formation in rotating fluids will be tested. The project will lay foundations for the measurement of energy cascades in turbulent atmospheric winds, a subject of intense scientific debate over the last three decades.