Semi-martingale driven variational principles

Spearheaded by the recent efforts to derive stochastic geophysical fluid dynamics models, we present a generic framework for introducing stochasticity into variational principles through the concept of a semi-martingale driven variational principle and constraining the component variables to be compatible with the driving semi-martingale. Within this framework and the corresponding choice of constraints, the Euler-Poincare equation can be easily deduced. We show that their corresponding deterministic counterparts are particular cases of this class of stochastic variational principles. Moreover, this is a natural framework that enables us to correctly characterize the pressure term in incompressible stochastic fluid models. Other general constraints can also be incorporated as long as they are compatible with the driving semi-martingale.