One-dimensional model of freely decaying two-dimensional turbulence

Abstract: We construct a discrete shell-model for two-dimensional turbulence that takes into account local and nonlocal interactions between velocity modes in Fourier space. In real space, its continuous limit is described by the one-dimensional Burgers equation. We find a novel approximate scaling solution of such an equation and show that it well describes the main characteristics of the energy spectrum in fully developed, freely decaying two-dimensional turbulence.