A specific feature of turbulence in quasi-2D flows is the spontaneous emergence of large scale coherent structures, such as those observed in planetary atmospheres, for instance.

Josh Sokol, a reporter for Quanta Magazine, has written an article, entitled Flattened Fluids Help Scientists Understand Oceans and Atmospheres, which summarizes the recent progress in the field. It features, among others, the work that Anna Frishman (Princeton University) and myself have done on the vortex condensate.

The article has just been reprinted on Wired.com.