The Magnetic Field of the Earth - Paleomagnetism, the Core, and the Deep Mantle

Physics Today ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 50 (9) ◽  
pp. 70-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald T. Merrill ◽  
Michael W. McElhinny ◽  
Phillip L. McFadden ◽  
Subir K. Banerjee

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jérémy Rekier ◽  
Santiago Triana ◽  
Véronique Dehant

<p>Magnetic fields inside planetary objects can influence their rotation. This is true, in particular, of terrestrial objects with a metallic liquid core and a self-sustained dynamo such as the Earth, Mercury, Ganymede, etc. and also, to a lesser extent, of objects that don’t have a dynamo but are embedded in the magnetic field of their parent body like Jupiter’s moon, Io.<br>In these objects, angular momentum is transfered through the electromagnetic torques at the Core-Mantle Boundary (CMB) [1]. In the Earth, these have the potential to produce a strong modulation in the length of day at the decadal and interannual timescales [2]. They also affect the periods and amplitudes of nutation [3] and polar motion [4]. <br>The intensity of these torques depends primarily on the value of the electric conductivity at the base of the mantle, a close study and detailed modelling of their role in planetary rotation can thus teach us a lot about the physical processes taking place near the CMB.</p><p>In the study of the Earth’s length of day variations, the interplay between rotation and the internal magnetic field arrises from the excitation of torsional oscillations inside the Earth’s core [5]. These oscillations are traditionally modelled based on a series of assumptions such as that of Quasi-Geostrophicity (QG) of the flow inside the core [6]. On the other hand, the effect of the magnetic field on nutations and polar motion is traditionally treated as an additional coupling at the CMB [1]. In such model, the core flow is assumed to have a uniform vorticity and its pattern is kept unaffected by the magnetic field. </p><p>In the present work, we follow a different approach based on the study of magneto-inertial waves. When coupled to gravity through the effect of density stratification, these waves are known to play a crucial role in the oscillations of stars known as magneto-gravito-inertial modes [7]. The same kind of coupling inside the Earth’s core gives rise to the so-called MAC waves which are directly and conceptually related to the aforementioned torsional oscillations [8]. </p><p>We present our preliminary results on the computation of magneto-inertial waves in a freely rotating planetary model with a partially conducting mantle. We show how these waves can alter the frequencies of the free rotational modes identified as the Free Core Nutation (FCN) and Chandler Wobble (CW). We analyse how these results compare to those based on the QG hypothesis and how these are modified when viscosity and density stratification are taken into account. </p><p>[1] Dehant, V. et al. Geodesy and Geodynamics 8, 389–395 (2017). doi:10.1016/j.geog.2017.04.005<br>[2] Holme, R. et al. Nature 499, 202–204 (2013). doi:10.1038/nature12282<br>[3] Dumberry, M. et al. Geophys. J. Int. 191, 530–544 (2012). doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.2012.05625.x<br>[4] Kuang, W. et al. Geod. Geodyn. 10, 356–362 (2019). doi:10.1016/j.geog.2019.06.003<br>[5] Jault, D. et al. Nature 333, 353–356 (1988). doi:10.1038/333353a0<br>[6] Gerick, F. et al. Geophys. Res. Lett. (2020). doi:10.1029/2020gl090803<br>[7] Mathis, S. et al. EAS Publications Series 62 323-362 (2013). doi: 10.1051/eas/1362010<br>[8] Buffett, B. et al. Geophys. J. Int. 204, 1789–1800 (2016). doi:10.1093/gji/ggv552</p>


The magnetic field generated in the core of the Earth is often represented by spherical harmonics of the magnetic potential. It has been found from looking at the equations of spherical harmonics, and from studying the values of the spherical harmonic coefficients derived from data from Magsat, that this is an unsatisfactory way of representing the core field. Harmonics of high degree are characterized by generally shorter wavelength expressions on the surface of the Earth, but also contain very long wavelength features as well. Thus if it is thought that the higher degree harmonics are produced by magnetizations within the crust of the Earth, these magnetizations have to be capable of producing very long wavelength signals. Since it is impossible to produce very long wavelength signals of sufficient amplitude by using crustal magnetizations of reasonable intensity, the separation of core and crustal sources by using spherical harmonics is not ideal. We suggest that a better way is to use radial off-centre dipoles located within the core of the Earth. These have several advantages. Firstly, they can be thought of as modelling real physical current systems within the core of the Earth. Secondly, it can be shown that off-centred dipoles, if located deep within the core, are more effective at removing long wavelength signals of potential or field than can be achieved by using spherical harmonics. The disadvantage is that it is much more difficult to compute the positions and strengths of the off-centred dipole fields, and much less easy to manipulate their effects (such as upward and downward continuation). But we believe, along with Cox and Alldredge & Hurwitz, that the understanding that we might obtain of the Earth’s magnetic field by using physically reasonable models rather than mathematically convenient models is very important. We discuss some of the radial dipole models that have been proposed for the nondipole portion of the Earth’s field to arrive at a model that agrees with observations of secular variation and excursions.


The core of the earth has oscillations which are flexible, and which are affected by pressure that can change its every direction, particularly to that of the two poles. In its intermittent oscillations towards north and south, the core constitutes an additional factor in the earth’s equilibrium, and this phenomenon also causes alternating changes in the magnetic field towards north and south.


The results of dynamo theories that have been deduced during the last 10 years have often been used for deriving statements relating properties of the magnetic field with those of the core of the Earth. These results are critically analysed, and the reliability of such statements is discussed.


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