title: Some remarks on coherent structures out of chaos in planetary atmospheres and oceans.
abstract: In the context of planetary atmospheres and oceans, it is natural to define "coherent structures" as "long-lived," or "solitary," Rossby vortices. These can be described by the generalized Charney-Obukhov equation (in fluid dynamics) or the analogous generalized Hasegawa-Mima equation (in plasma physics). These two equations contain KdV-type nonlinearities which (together with the compensating dispersive spreading) determine the formation of the coherent structures and explain the clear-cut cyclonic/anticyclonic asymmetry observed experimentally in long-lived planetary Rossby vortices. Examples are given of natural vortices which are (and which are not) coherent structures.
authors.affiliation: Russian Research Center "Kurchatov Institute," Institute of Nuclear Fusion, Kurchatov Square 1, 123182 Moscow, Russia.
authors.forename: Mikhail V.
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Nezlin