It is well known that the widely used powerful geostrophic equations that single out the vertical component of the Earth's rotation cease to be valid near the equator. Through a vorticity and an angular momentum analysis on the sphere, we show that if the flow varies on a horizontal scale L smaller than (Ha)1/2 (where H is a vertical scale of motion and a the Earth's radius), then equatorial dynamics must include the effect of the horizontal component of the Earth's rotation. In equatorial regions, where the horizontal plane aligns with the Earth's rotation axis, latitudinal variations of planetary angular momentum over such scales become small and approach the magnitude of its radial variations proscribing, therefore, vertical displacements to be freed from rotational constraints. When the zonal flow is strong compared to the meridional one, we show that the zonal component of the vorticity equation becomes (2Ω.Δ)u1 = g/ρ0)(∂ρ/a∂θ). This equation, where θ is latitude, expresses a balance between the buoyancy torque and the twisting of the full Earth's vorticity by the zonal flow u1. This generalization of the mid-latitude thermal wind relation to the equatorial case shows that u1 may be obtained up to a constant by integrating the ‘observed’ density field along the Earth's rotation axis and not along gravity as in common mid-latitude practice. The simplicity of this result valid in the finite-amplitude regime is not shared however by the other velocity components.

Vorticity and momentum equations appropriate to low frequency and predominantly zonal flows are given on the equatorial β-plane. These equatorial results and the mid-latitude geostrophic approximation are shown to stem from an exact generalized relation that relates the variation of dynamic pressure along absolute vortex lines to the buoyancy field. The usual hydrostatic equation follows when the aspect ratio δ = H/L is such that tan θ/δ is much larger than one. Within a boundary-layer region of width (Ha)1/2 and centred at the equator, the analysis shows that the usually neglected Coriolis terms associated with the horizontal component of the Earth's rotation must be kept.

Finally, some solutions of zonally homogeneous steady equatorial inertial jets are presented in which the Earth's vorticity is easily turned upside down by the shear flow and the correct angular momentum ‘Ωr2cos2(θ)+u1rCos(θ)’ contour lines close in the vertical–meridional plane.