Journal Article

Projective Symmetry and Coherence Regimes in the Eady Model of Baroclinic Instability

Ghizdovat, Vlad, Timofte, Adrian, Vasincu, Decebal, Bostan, Diana-Corina, Rusu, Dragos-Ioan, Ungureanu, Alexandra-Iuliana, Agop, Maricel

2026

Overview

Baroclinic instability is a fundamental mechanism of midlatitude atmospheric variability, and the Eady model remains one of its most useful idealized representations. In this work, we revisit the Eady configuration from the viewpoint of solution-space geometry rather than the classical normal-mode/growth-rate analysis. Starting from the reduced Eady vertical-structure equation, we show that the ratio of two independent solutions satisfies a Schwarzian-type relation that is invariant under homographic transformations, which naturally leads to an SL(2R) projective symmetry of the solution family. On this basis, we introduce a complex amplitude representation and reformulate coherence in terms of phase–amplitude synchronization constrained by projective invariants. Using Riccati-type constructions along geodesic parametrizations, the reduced dynamics are connected to a Stoler-type transform. Numerical exploration of the reduced model shows a systematic dependence on the control parameter ω: small ω is associated with simple oscillatory or burst-like behavior, intermediate ω with period-doubling-like behavior, and large ω with strongly modulated dynamics and more intricate reconstructed attractors. These results should be interpreted as properties of the reduced symmetry-based model, and they suggest that projective invariants may provide a useful framework for classifying organization regimes in Eady-type disturbances, complementary to classical growth-rate analyses.