Geophysical turbulence data and turbulence theory

Abstract. Many vital insights into the nature of turbulence in fluids have originated from experimental data obtained in geophysical flows. Geophysical data have often helped to stimulate the creation of new turbulence theory, while theory has in many cases motivated the experimental efforts. The present brief review discusses several key examples of this interaction between experiment and theory, citing mainly work which is of particular interest to the author. No attempt is made to provide a complete listing of the extensive and currently rapidly developing literature for some of the problems discussed.