  We study a viscous two-layer quasi-geostrophic beta-plane model that is
forced by imposition of a spatially uniform vertical shear in the eastward
(zonal) component of the layer flows, or equivalently a spatially uniform
north-south temperature gradient. We prove that the model is linearly unstable,
but that non-linear solutions are bounded in time by a bound which is
independent of the initial data and is determined only by the physical
parameters of the model. We further prove, using arguments first presented in
the study of the Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation, the existence of an absorbing
ball in appropriate function spaces, and in fact the existence of a compact
finite-dimensional attractor, and provide upper bounds for the fractal and
Hausdorff dimensions of the attractor. Finally, we show the existence of an
inertial manifold for the dynamical system generated by the model's solution
operator. Our results provide rigorous justification for observations made by
Panetta based on long-time numerical integrations of the model equations.
