Decaying quasi-2D turbulence in a stratified fluid with circular boundaries

Laboratory experiments on decaying quasi-2D turbulence are performed in a stratified flow inside a circular container. The observed decay scenario and the shape of the quasi-stationary "final" state depend strongly on the amount of net angular momentum in the initial flow field. Furthermore, the angular momentum appears to be a better conserved quantity than the total kinetic energy. These experimental observations agree remarkably well with recently reported results based on numerical simulations of the 2D Navier-Stokes equations with no-slip boundary conditions.