Arnolʹd Nonlinear Stability Theorems and their Application to the Atmosphere and Oceans

Within the context of atmospheric and oceanic fluid dynamicsthe problems of nonlinear stability and instability, particularlythe Arnolʹd second type nonlinear stability, are surveyed.The stability criteria obtained by means of the energy-Casimirand energy-Lagrange methods are presented for a varietyof models, the estimates for various generalized perturbationenergy and enstrophy are given. Potential applications of thesecriteria are shown in the estimation of bounds on the perturbationenergy and enstrophy, in the diagnostic study of the persistence orbreakdown of jet flows in the middle and high latitudes, and in theverification of the validity of the tangent linear model in bothatmospheric dynamics and oceanography.Some further research results are also highlighted.