Turbulence is chaotic by definition, but previous work has shown that turbulent flow is organized into coherent stuctures. We use a method called Direct Lyapunov Exponent to investigate one of these structures: an isolated hairpin vortex in a channel flow. This image is in a plane a constant distance from a wall on which this structure sits. The light color outlines the hairpin vortex. See also turbulent channel flow.

Green, M. A., Rowley, C. W. & Haller, G. Detection of Lagrangian coherent structures in three-dimensional turbulence, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 572, 2007, 111-120.