Anisotropy and intermittency in drift-wave turbulence with zonal flows: a two-dimensional continuous wavelet analysis

Abstract

We examine anisotropy and spatial intermittency at small scales in drift-wave turbulence with zonal flows. We use a two-dimensional directional continuous wavelet transform, which allows simultaneous localization in scale, position, and direction. This wavelet analysis is applied to vorticity fields obtained from numerical simulations of the modified Hasegawa--Wakatani model, a reduced model of resistive drift-wave turbulence in magnetized plasmas with zonal flows. Directional wavelet statistics characterize the anisotropy of the turbulence. The second-order moment is enhanced around directions perpendicular to the zonal flow. Spatial intermittency, characterized by scale-dependent flatness, is more pronounced around directions along the zonal flow.