Point vortex description of drift wave vortices: Dynamics and transport

A point vortex description for drift wave vortices is formulated based on the Hasegawa–Mima equation to study elementary processes for the interactions of vortices as well as statistical properties like vortex diffusion. Dynamical properties of drift wave vortices known by numerical experiments are recovered. Furthermore, an empirical expression for the vortex diffusion given by Horton [Phys. Fluids B 31, 524 (1989)] based on numerical simulations is shown to be analytically obtained. A variety of phenomena arising from the short-range nature of the interaction force of point vortices are suggested.