title: Nonlinear energy transfers and phase diagrams for geostrophically balanced rotating-stratified flows.
abstract: Equilibrium statistical mechanics tools have been developed to obtain indications about the natural tendencies of nonlinear energy transfers in two-dimensional and quasi-two-dimensional flows like rotating and stratified flows in geostrophic balance. In this article we consider a simple model of such flows with a nontrivial vertical structure, namely, two-layer quasigeostrophic flows, which remain amenable to analytical study. We obtain the statistical equilibria of the system in the case of a linear vorticity-stream function relation, build the corresponding phase diagram, and discuss the most probable outcome of nonlinear energy transfers, both on the horizontal and on the vertical, in the presence of stratification and rotation.
authors.affiliation: National Center for Atmospheric Research, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, Colorado 80307, USA.
authors.forename: Corentin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Herbert