Momentum loss from uniform potential-vorticity mixing ($⟨\delta U⟩=-\beta W^2/12$)

If quasi-geostrophic potential vorticity initially has gradient $\beta$ across a channel of width $W$ and is homogenized, a height-independent change of zonal velocity obeys $\delta Q=-\delta U_y$. Requiring $\delta U(0)=\delta U(W)=0$ gives uniform final potential vorticity equal to its original channel mean, $\delta U=\beta y(y-W)/2$, and channel-mean momentum change $-\beta W^2/12$. The negative change for $\beta >0$ is wave drag associated with mixing, not a loss of total momentum in an isolated unforced system.

In zonally averaged barotropic quasi-geostrophic approximation flow with zero mean meridional transport, the Taylor identity for quasi-geostrophic flux relates the meridional potential vorticity flux to the convergence of Reynolds stress. A local downgradient closure $\overline{v^{\prime }{q}^{\prime }}=-\kappa {\overline{Q}}_y$, with $\kappa \ge 0$, therefore gives westward mean acceleration where the background gradient is positive. Rossby wave breaking can stir PV into fine filaments; coarse-graining or weak diffusion produces the inferred mixing. Globally the momentum-flux convergence integrates to boundary stresses, so localized westward changes need compensating transport or momentum changes elsewhere in an isolated system.