  We present experimental evidence and theoretical arguments showing that the
time-evolution of freely decaying 2-d turbulence is governed by a {\it
discrete} time scale invariance rather than a continuous time scale invariance.
Physically, this reflects that the time-evolution of the merging of vortices is
not smooth but punctuated, leading to a prefered scale factor and as a
consequence to log-periodic oscillations. From a thorough analysis of freely
decaying 2-d turbulence experiments, we show that the number of vortices, their
radius and separation display log-periodic oscillations as a function of time
with an average log-frequency of ~ 4-5 corresponding to a prefered scaling
ratio of ~ 1.2-1.3
