Thermal quasi-geostrophic model on the sphere: Derivation and structure-preserving simulation

Journal article, 2025

We derive the global model of thermal quasi-geostrophy on the sphere via asymptotic expansion of the thermal rotating shallow water equations. The model does not rely on the asymptotic expansion of the Coriolis force and extends the quasi-geostrophic model on the sphere by including an additional transported buoyancy field acting as a source term for the potential vorticity. We give its Hamiltonian description in terms of semidirect product Lie–Poisson brackets. The Hamiltonian formulation reveals the existence of an infinite number of conservation laws, Casimirs, parameterized by two arbitrary smooth functions. A structure-preserving discretization is provided based on Zeitlin's self-consistent matrix approximation for hydrodynamics. A Casimir-preserving time integrator is employed to numerically fully preserve the resulting finite-dimensional Lie–Poisson structure. Simulations reveal the formation of vorticity and buoyancy fronts, and large-scale structures in the buoyancy dynamics induced by the buoyancy–bathymetry interaction.