Equilibrium Configurations of Point Vortices on a Sphere

Configurations of point vortices on the sphere are considered in which all vortex velocities are zero. A sharp upper bound for the number of equilibria lying on a great circle is found, valid for generic circulations, and some unusual equilibrium configurations with a free real parameter are described. Equilibria of rings (vortices evenly spaced along circles of latitude) are also discussed. All equilibrium configurations of four vortices are determined.