Interior turbulence and the thresholding of atmospheres

Turbulence is flow plus instability. It is a quality of chaotic flow that occurs beyond a certain limit point in a system. We encounter moments of turbulence throughout our everyday lives - the flow of tap water, adding milk to a cup of tea, turning a street corner in the city and being buffeted by a gust of wind. In a meteorological sense, turbulence occurs when two differing masses of air collide, creating pockets of disruption as the various forces try to reconcile themselves. It is a disruptive process of coming together. Seemingly stable objects and systems become disrupted by the chaotic qualities that are introduced by turbulence. Instability and unpredictability are turbulence's inherent qualities, qualities that tend to carry negative connotations compared to the contrasting terms - stability and predictability. Although, historically, turbulence has been identified with disorder or noise, more recently it has come to be understood, despite appearances, as highly organised (Prigogine & Stengers 1984: 141). Turbulence occurs across a range of scales, from the very large to the microscopically small. It is dynamic, and dependent on time, occurring as a system evolves and crosses certain threshold conditions.