  In this letter we propose a Turing model of the formation of patterns of
visible light emission intensity in atmospheric pressure gas discharges. The
electron density and the electron temperature take the roles of activator and
inhibitor respectively in a two-reactant Turing model, with the activator
diffusion coeffcient being much smaller than that of the inhibitor, and
ionization and excitation from excited state atoms considered as the dominant
reaction processes. The model predicts striations in a 1D system, which
quantitatively agree with experimental results in terms of the spatial
variation scale lengths. Additionally, the model also predicts changes in the
discharge structure observed experimentally when input power and gas pressure
are varied.
