An investigation of the two-dimensional (2-D) toroidal eigenmode probl
em reveals the possibility of a new consistent 2-D structure, the diss
ipative ballooning mode of the second kind (BM-II). In contrast to the
conventional ballooning mode, the new mode is poloidally localized at
pi/2 (or-pi/2), and possesses significant radial asymmetry. The radia
l asymmetry in turn, allows the dissipative BM-II to generate consider
ably larger Reynolds stress as compared to the standard slab drift-typ
e modes. It is also shown that a wide class of localized dissipative t
oroidal modes are likely to be of the dissipative BM-II nature, sugges
ting that at the tokamak edge, the fluctuation generated Reynolds stre
ss (a possible source of poloidal flow) can be significant. (C) 1995 A
merican Institute of Physics.