Two-dimensional turbulence: a physicist approach

Much progress has been made on two-dimensional turbulence, these last two decades, but still, a number of fundamental questions remain unanswered. The objective of the present review is to collect and organize the available information on the subject, emphasizing on aspects accessible to experiment, and outlining contributions made on simple flow configurations. Whenever possible, open questions are made explicit. Various subjects are presented: coherent structures, statistical theories, inverse cascade of energy, condensed states, Richardson law, direct cascade of enstrophy, and the inter-play between cascades and coherent structures. The review offers a physicist's view on two-dimensional turbulence in the sense that experimental facts play an important role in the presentation, technical issues are described Without much detail, sometimes in an oversimplified form, and physical arguments are given whenever possible. I hope this bias does not jeopardize the interest of the presentation for whoever wishes to visit the fascinating world of Flatland. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.