The view is from above and to one side, and shows only what happens to a single vertical slice through the row of spirals. The wrapping-up process brings heavier air over lighter air, the two tending to intermingle as the heavier air tries to move downwards and the light air upwards. The result is the turbulence you feel on board an aircraft. Laboratory experiments can also show turbulence. In the tilting tank experiment, the scale of the turbulence is minuscule compared to the scale of turbulence that affects aircraft, but the phenomenon is essentially the same.
Computer simulations can predict the experimental observations remarkably well.
Of course, the computer program that does the simulation has to be based on a mathematical model of air or water. The study of the way fluids behave is known as Fluid Dynamics . This is a highly mathematical discipline and a great deal of research into fluid dynamics is done in university mathematics departments, as well as in engineering departments. Mathematicians use vector fields to describe the motion of fluids. Vector means something that has magnitude and direction.