At the center of the Earth is a solid metal sphere that rotates independently of the Earth’s rotation. Scientists have debated the speed and direction of the inner core’s rotation. However, new research suggests that the speed of the inner core appears to have changed in recent years. However, researchers are not exactly sure if there are any effects from the inner core slowing down or even reversing its rotation.
Danish seismologist Inge Lehmann discovered the spherical inner core in 1936.
The inner core is buried approximately 3,220 miles deep inside the Earth. This solid metallic sphere is composed primarily of iron and nickel. Its temperature is estimated to be as hot as the surface of the Sun, at approximately 9,800 degrees Fahrenheit.
according to National Geographic:
The intense pressure of the inner core (as well as the rest of the Earth and the entire atmosphere) prevents iron from melting. The pressure and density are too great for iron atoms to reach a liquid state. This unusual situation has led some geophysicists to consider the inner core as do not have Not as a solid, but as a plasma Behavior As a solid.
The Earth’s magnetic field tugs on this ball of hot metal, forcing it to spin, while gravity and the flows of the fluid outer core and mantle also interact with the motion of the inner core.
After analyzing seismic data, scientists believe that the core’s rotation speeds up and slows down on a 70-year cycle. One hypothesis, proposed in 2023, suggests that in the past, the core rotated faster than Earth, but has recently slowed down. The slowdown could be so great that it could even reverse the direction of the core’s rotation.
The study found that the inner core began to slow down around 2008, and had slightly reversed direction relative to the mantle by 2023. The researchers calculated that the inner core’s rotation will begin to speed up again in the next 5 to 10 years.
A new study published in the journal Nature Observations on June 12 confirmed that the core had slowed down significantly, but scientists aren’t sure exactly how this slowdown, or retreat, will affect Earth.
One theory is that a slow-rotating core could slightly alter the length of the day.
The movement of metal-rich fluid in the outer core generates electric currents that drive Earth’s magnetic field, protecting the planet from deadly solar radiation. Scientists think that a slowing or reversal of the inner core could affect Earth’s magnetic field.
Dr. John Vidale, co-author of the new study and Chair of the Department of Earth Sciences in the Doon Seif College of Arts and Letters at USC, said the new research is “spot on.”
Vidale said. CNN“I think the debate is over whether the inner core is moving and what the patterns of the inner core have been over the past few decades.”
Dr Lauren Wazek, a senior lecturer in physical sciences at James Cook University in Australia, told the media: “Differential rotation of the inner core was proposed as a phenomenon in the 1970s and 1980s, but it wasn’t until the 1990s that seismological evidence was published.”
Wazek said more data and “improved interdisciplinary tools to explore this further” are needed to determine whether there is an effect from the inner core slowing.
“What about the impact on a person’s life? Not much,” Waszek said.
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