Thermalization and free decay in Surface Quasi-Geostrophic flows

Abstract: We derive statistical equilibrium solutions of the truncated inviscid surface quasi-geostrophic (SQG) equations, and verify the validity of these solutions at late times in numerical simulations of the truncated SQG equations. The results indicate enstrophy thermalizes while energy can condense at the gravest modes, in agreement with previous indications of a direct cascade of enstrophy and an inverse cascade of energy in forced-dissipative SQG systems. At early times, the truncated inviscid SQG simulations show a behavior reminiscent of forced-dissipative SQG turbulence, and we identify spectral scaling laws for the energy and enstrophy spectra. Finally, a comparison between viscous and inviscid simulations allows us to identify free-decay similarity laws for the enstrophy in SQG turbulence at very large Reynolds number.