Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 June 2012
Excitation of the geodesic acoustic mode continuum by drift wave turbulence is studied using the wave kinetic approach. For a model profile of weak non-uniform ion temperature, the forms of growth rate and radial structure of geodesic acoustic modes are obtained analytically. The growth rate is analyzed for several conditions for present-day tokamaks and compared with that for uniform ion temperature, as well as that given by the coherent mode approach for non-uniform ion temperature.