On generation of sub-surface motions in stratified ocean over sloping bottom

Quasigeostrophic motions in a two-layer ocean over the sloping bottom are considered. The dynamics of these motions is strongly different both from the motion of a two-layer fluid on the beta-plane and the motion in a barotropic ocean over the sloping bottom. The first distinction is the existence of steady states with finite energy and enstrophy confined to the upper layer. The second one is related to the properties of linear waves which have a zero upper layer potential vorticity. The radiation of such waves results in the fact that any initial state with non-zero upper layer vorticity (for example confined to the lower layer) does not disperse with iincreasing time but tends to the steady upper layer state described above.