The basic physics of drift-wave turbulence and zonal flows has long been studied within the framework of the wave-kinetic theory. Recently, this framework has been reexamined from first principles, which has led to more accurate yet still tractable “improved” wave-kinetic equations. In particular, these equations reveal an important effect of the zonal-flow “curvature” (the second radial derivative of the flow velocity) on the dynamics and stability of drift waves and zonal flows. We overview these recent findings and present a consolidated high-level picture of (mostly quasilinear) zonal-flow physics within reduced models of drift-wave turbulence.

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地层流动力学的波动力学方法：最新进展

漂移波湍流和纬向流的基本物理原理早已在波动力学理论的框架内进行了研究。最近，这个框架已经从第一原理中重新进行了审查，这导致了更准确但仍易于处理的“改进的”波动动力学方程式。特别是，这些方程式揭示了纬向流“曲率”（流速的第二径向导数）对漂移波和纬向流的动力学和稳定性的重要影响。我们概述了这些最新发现，并给出了在简化的漂移波湍流模型中（大部分为准线性）地层流物理学的综合高级图景。