Global in time classical solutions to the 3D quasi-geostrophic system for large initial data (Q1709806)

The authors show the existence of global in time classical solutions to the 3D quasi-geostrophic system with Ekman pumping for any smooth initial value (possibly large). The system couples an inviscid transport equation in $\mathbb{R}^3_+$ with an equation on the boundary satisfied by the trace. The proof combines the De-Giorgi regularization methods and Beale-Kato-Majda techniques on the boundary $z=0$ and $z>0$ respectively. A bootstrapping argument combining potential theory and Littlewood-Paley techniques is used to strengthen the regularization effect on the trace up to the Besov space $\dot{B}_{\infty,\infty}^1$.