Nonlinear drift-wave structures and their influence on particle transport

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Abstract
The nonlinear dynamics of drift-wave turbulence and the resulting transport properties are considered in two-dimensional situations. Here drift waves are driven unstable via either the universal instability or the drift dissipative instability. Numerical simulations demonstrate that drift-wave turbulence contains monopolar, spatially coherent structures. The latter are identified by some standard methods. It is shown that coherent structures can account for convective particle transport in addition to the fluctuation-induced transport. An approximate linear scaling between fluctuation-induced transport and driving strength is found. Estimates for the convective particle transport are presented.