A note on relative equilibria in a rotating shallow water layer

Relative equilibria of two and three satellite vortices in a rotating shallow water layer have been recorded via particle image velocimetry (PIV) and their autorotation speed was estimated. This study shows that these equilibria retain the fundamental characteristics of Kelvin's equilibria, and could be adequately described by the classical idealized point vortex theory. The same conclusion can also be inferred using the experimental dataset of Bergmann et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 679, 2011, pp. 415-431; J. Fluid Mech., vol. 691, 2012, pp. 605-606) if the assigned field's contribution to pattern rotation is included.