Holomorphic structures in hydrodynamical models of nearly geostrophic flow

Abstract

We study complex structures arising in Hamiltonian models of nearly geostrophic flows in hydrodynamics. In many of these models an elliptic Monge–Ampere equation defines the relationship between a ‘balanced’ velocity field, defined by a constraint in the Hamiltonian formalism, and the materially conserved potential vorticity. Elliptic Monge–Ampere operators define an almost–complex structure, and in this paper we show that a natural extension of the so–called geostrophic momentum transformation of semi–geostrophic theory, which has a special importance in theoretical meteorology, defines Kahler and special Kahler structures on phase space. Furthermore, analogues of the ‘geostrophic momentum coordinates’ are shown to be special Lagrangian coordinates under conditions which depend upon the physical approximations under consideration. Certain duality properties of the operators are studied within the framework of the Kahler geometry.