  The problem of the nonequivalence of the sets of equilibrium points and
energy-Casimir extremal points, which occurs in the noncanonical Hamiltonian
formulation of equations describing ideal fluid and plasma dynamics, is
addressed in the context of the Euler equation for an incompressible inviscid
fluid. The problem is traced to a Casimir deficit, where Casimir elements
constitute the center of the Lie-Poisson algebra underlying the Hamiltonian
formulation, and this leads to a study of the symplectic operator defining the
Poisson bracket. The kernel of the symplectic operator, for this typical
example of an infinite-dimensional Hamiltonian system for media in terms of
Eulerian variables, is analyzed. For two-dimensional flows, a rigorously
solvable system is formulated. The nonlinearity of the Euler equation makes the
symplectic operator inhomogeneous on phase space (the function space of the
state variable), and it is seen that this creates a singularity where the
nullity of the symplectic operator (the "dimension" of the center) changes.
Singular Casimir elements stemming from this singularity are unearthed using a
generalization of the functional derivative that occurs in the Poisson bracket.
