Statistical equilibria of two-dimensional turbulent flows for generic initial vorticity fields on a sphere, calculated on the basis of the original Miller-Robert-Sommeria theory

Abstract

Based on the original Miller-Robert-Sommeria theory, we explicitly compute a statistical equilibrium of two-dimensional turbulent flow on a sphere for a generic initial vorticity field introduced in a previous study. The macroscopic vorticity field corresponding to the obtained statistical equilibrium has a quadrupole structure. The resulting quadrupole structure is topologically consistent with the final state of the long-term time integration of the vorticity equation. However, the statistical equilibrium does not predict the formation of concentrated vortices as seen in the time integration. We also calculate statistical equilibria for the initial vorticity field with a planetary vorticity term, and find a change of statistical equilibria from quadrupole states to zonally symmetric states as the angular velocity of the sphere increases. The quadrupole statistical equilibria show nearly linear relations between the macroscopic vorticity and the macroscopic stream function, implying that higher-order Casimir invariants are virtually ineffective even when all Casimir invariants are considered. The discrepancy between the equilibria and the time integration results emphasizes the importance of mixing barriers, which prevent the relaxation of the evolving vorticity field to the statistical equilibria and allow the point-vortex-like dynamics of coherent vortices to persist.