We present an analytical investigation of the global helicity budget associated with the salt-fingering instability within the two-dimensional, three-component framework. Our analysis shows that in the region of parameter space corresponding to salt fingering, helicity amplification occurs when the Rayleigh ratio—quantifying the relative strength of salinity to temperature gradients—exceeds a critical threshold. This finding provides a possible theoretical explanation for the spontaneous emergence of helicity, observed in recent numerical simulations.

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• Doubly diffusive convection
• Helicity