Nonpositive Curvature of the quantomorphism group and quasigeostrophic motion

Abstract

In this paper, we compute the sectional curvature of the quantomorphism group $\mathcal{D}_q(M)$ whose geodesic equation is the quasi-geostrophic (QG) equation in geophysics and oceanography, for flows with a stream function depending on only one variable. Using this explicit formula, we will also derive a criterion for the curvature operator to be nonpositive and discuss the role of the Froude number and the Rossby number on curvature. The main technique to obtain a usable formula is a simplification of Arnold's general formula in the case where a vector field is close to a Killing field, and then use the Green's function explicitly. We show that nonzero Froude number and Rossby numbers both tend to stabilize flows in the Lagrangian sense.