Large-time behavior of solutions to the Boussinesq equations with partial dissipation and influence of rotation

Abstract

This paper investigates the stability and large-time behavior of solutions to the rotating Boussinesq system under the influence of a general gravitational potential $\Psi$, which is widely used to model the dynamics of stratified geophysical fluids on the $f-$plane. Our main results are threefold: First, by imposing physically realistic boundary conditions and viscosity constraints, we prove that the solutions of the system smust necessarily take the following steady-state form $(\rho,u,v,w,p)=(\rho_s,0,v_s,0, p_s)$. These solutions are characterized by both geostrophic balance, given by $fv_s-\frac{\partial p_s}{\partial x}=\rho_s\frac{\partial \Psi}{\partial x}$ and hydrostatic balance, expressed as $-\frac{\partial p_s}{\partial z}=\rho_s\frac{\partial \Psi}{\partial z}$. Second, we establish that any steady-state solution satisfying the conditions $\nabla \rho_s=\delta (x,z)\nabla \Psi$ with $v_s(x,z)=a_0x+a_1$ is linearly unstable when the conditions $\delta(x,z)|_{(x_0,z_0)}>0$ and $(f+\alpha_0)\leq 0$ are simultaneously satisfied. This instability under the condition $\delta(x,z)|_{(x_0,z_0)}>0$ corresponds to the well-known Rayleigh-Taylor instability. Third, although the inherent Rayleigh-Taylor instability could potentially amplify the velocity around unstable steady-state solutions (heavier density over lighter one), we rigorously demonstrate that for any sufficiently smooth initial data, the solutions of the system asymptotically converge to a neighborhood of a steady-state solution in which both the zonal and vertical velocity components vanish. Finally, under a moderate additional assumption, we demonstrate that the system converges to a specific steady-state solution. In this state, the density profile is given by $\rho=-\gamma \Psi+\beta$, where $\gamma$ and $\beta$ are positive constants, and the meridional velocity $v$ depends solely and linearly on $x$ variable.