On the uniqueness of weak solutions of the two-dimensional primitive equations. (Q1413557)

The aim of this paper is to prove the uniqueness of weak solutions of the primitive equations in two space dimensions, with traction by wind at the surface and a friction condition at the bottom. These equations are obtained from the anisotropic Navier-Stokes equations by an asymptotics analysis as the aspect ratio \(\delta=\) depth/width of the domain goes to 0. More precisely, the domain considered is \(\Omega\) in \(\mathbb{R}^2\) defined by: \[ \Omega= \{(x, z): x\in s,\;-h(x)< z< 0\}, \] where the horizontal section \(s\) is an open interval and \(h\) is a nonnegative continuous function on \(\overline s\) vanishing on \(\partial s\). The boundary of \(\Omega\) is \(\partial\Omega= \overline\Gamma_b\cup \Gamma_s\cup \partial\Gamma_s\), where the bottom \(\Gamma_b\), the surface \(\Gamma_s\) and the shore \(\partial\Gamma_s\) are defined by: \[ \Gamma_b= \{(x,-h(x)): x\in s\},\quad \Gamma_s= \{(x,0): x\in s\},\quad \partial\Gamma_s= \{(x, 0): x\in\partial s\}. \] The primitive equations considered are as follows: \[ \begin{cases} \partial_t v+ v\partial_x v+ w\partial_z v- \nu_h\partial^2_x v-\nu_v\partial^2_z v+\partial_x p= 0,\\ \partial_z p= 0,\quad w(t,x,z)= \int^0_z \partial_x v(t,x,\xi)\,dx\xi,\\ \langle v\rangle= 0\quad\text{on }s,\end{cases} \tag{1} \] where \(u= (v, w)\) is the velocity of the fluid and \(p\) is the pressure and \[ \langle\varphi\rangle(x)= \int^0_{-h(x)} \varphi(x, z)\,dz. \] The boundary and initial conditions are \[ \begin{cases} \nu_v \partial_z v|_{\Gamma_s}= \alpha| v_{\text{air}} |(v_{\text{air}}- v|_{\Gamma_s}),\\ \nu_v\partial_z v|_{\Gamma_b}= \beta(x) v|_{\Gamma_b},\\ v|_{t= 0}= v_0,\end{cases} \tag{2} \] where \(v_{\text{air}}\) is the horizontal velocity of the wind at the surface of the ocean and \(v_0\) is the initial horizontal velocity, \((\nu_h,\nu_v)\) is an anisotropic viscosity, \(\alpha\in \mathbb{R}\) is a positive constant and \(\beta\) is a positive function defined on \(s\). Under some conditions the authors show that any weak solution of primitive equations (1)--(2) is a weak-vorticity solution i.e. it satisfies the additional regularity: \[ \partial_z v\in L^\infty(0, T;L^2(\Omega))\cap L^2(0,T; H^1(\Omega)). \] The existence of a weak-vorticity solution implies the uniqueness result.