The coherent vortex extraction method, a wavelet technique for extracting
coherent vortices out of turbulent flows, is applied to simulations of
resistive drift-wave turbulence in magnetized plasma (Hasegawa-Wakatani
system). The aim is to retain only the essential degrees of freedom,
responsible for the transport. It is shown that the radial density flux is
carried by these coherent modes. In the quasi-hydrodynamic regime, coherent
vortices exhibit depletion of the polarization-drift nonlinearity and vorticity
strongly dominates strain, in contrast to the quasiadiabatic regime