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We study Euler Poincare systems (i.e., the Lagrangian analogue of Lie Poisson Hamiltonian systems) defined on semidirect product Lie algebras. We first give a derivation of the Euler Poincare equations for a parameter dependent Lagrangian by using a variational principle of Lagrange d'Alembert type. Then we derive an abstract Kelvin Noether theorem for these equations. We also explore their relation with the theory of Lie Poisson Hamiltonian systems defined on the dual of a semidirect product Lie algebra. The Legendre transformation in such cases is often not invertible; thus, it does not produce a corresponding Euler Poincare system on that Lie algebra. We avoid this potential difficulty by developing the theory of Euler Poincare systems entirely within the Lagrangian framework. We apply the general theory to a number of known examples, including the heavy top, ideal compressible fluids and MHD. We also use this framework to derive higher dimensional Camassa Holm equations, which have many potentially interesting analytical properties. These equations are Euler Poincare equations for geodesics on diffeomorphism groups (in the sense of the Arnold program) but where the metric is H 1 rather than L 2 .

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