Barotropic vorticity transport (${\partial }_t\mathbf{\omega }=\nabla \times (\mathbf{u}\times \mathbf{\omega })$)

For an inviscid barotropic fluid with only potential body forces, the vorticity $\mathbf{\omega }=\nabla \times \mathbf{u}$ obeysThe pressure force is a gradient because ${\rho }^{-1}\nabla p=\nabla {\int }^{\rho }{p}^{\prime }(s)ds/s$. A spatially uniform specific entropy makes a fixed-composition fluid barotropic. Merely having $Ds/Dt=0$ does not exclude baroclinic vorticity generation from spatial entropy gradients.

For smooth inviscid barotropic fluid with potential body forces, barotropic vorticity transport and $\nabla \cdot \mathbf{\omega }=0$ give $D\mathbf{\omega }/Dt=(\mathbf{\omega }\cdot \nabla )\mathbf{u}-\mathbf{\omega }\nabla \cdot \mathbf{u}$. Combine this with material surface element evolution to obtain $D(\mathbf{\omega }\cdot d\mathbf{S})/Dt=0$. Integrating over a material surface proves the flux law. Its boundary must move with the fluid; flux through a fixed open surface is generally not conserved. By Stokes theorem the same statement is Kelvin's circulation theorem around the material boundary.