Mass distribution and moments of inertia in the outer shells of the Earth

Terra Nova ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-47
Author(s):  
Michele Caputo ◽  
Riccardo Caputo

Before discussing its cause, one must be clear in exactly what respect the lunar figure deviates from the equilibrium one. This is necessary because there has been confusion over the question for a long time. It was known early that the Moon’s ellipsoid of inertia is triaxial and that the differences of the principal moments of inertia determined from observations are several times larger than the theoretical values corresponding to hydrostatic equilibrium. The stability of lunar rotation requires that the axis of least moment of inertia point approximately towards the Earth and the laws of Cassini show that it is really so.


1980 ◽  
Vol 78 ◽  
pp. 157-157
Author(s):  
Zh. S. Erzhanov ◽  
A. A. Kolybaev ◽  
Al. K. Egorov

In contrast to the deduction of the equations of precession and nutation adopted as a standard by the IAU, the authors develop a rigorous theory of the rotation of the Earth taking into account the inequality of the equatorial moments of inertia of the Earth and retaining small terms usually neglected to simplify an approximate solution.The equation is expressed in terms of the so-called Beletsky-Chernousko's variables used in astrodynamics.


2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Th. Gruber ◽  
J. L. Bamber ◽  
M. F. P. Bierkens ◽  
H. Dobslaw ◽  
M. Murböck ◽  
...  

Abstract. Time variable gravity fields, reflecting variations of mass distribution in the system Earth is one of the key parameters to understand the changing Earth. Mass variations are caused either by redistribution of mass in, on or above the Earth's surface or by geophysical processes in the Earth's interior. The first set of observations of monthly variations of the Earth gravity field was provided by the US/German GRACE satellite mission beginning in 2002. This mission is still providing valuable information to the science community. However, as GRACE has outlived its expected lifetime, the geoscience community is currently seeking successor missions in order to maintain the long time series of climate change that was begun by GRACE. Several studies on science requirements and technical feasibility have been conducted in the recent years. These studies required a realistic model of the time variable gravity field in order to perform simulation studies on sensitivity of satellites and their instrumentation. This was the primary reason for the European Space Agency (ESA) to initiate a study on "Monitoring and Modelling individual Sources of Mass Distribution and Transport in the Earth System by Means of Satellites". The goal of this interdisciplinary study was to create as realistic as possible simulated time variable gravity fields based on coupled geophysical models, which could be used in the simulation processes in a controlled environment. For this purpose global atmosphere, ocean, continental hydrology and ice models were used. The coupling was performed by using consistent forcing throughout the models and by including water flow between the different domains of the Earth system. In addition gravity field changes due to solid Earth processes like continuous glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) and a sudden earthquake with co-seismic and post-seismic signals were modelled. All individual model results were combined and converted to gravity field spherical harmonic series, which is the quantity commonly used to describe the Earth's global gravity field. The result of this study is a twelve-year time-series of 6-hourly time variable gravity field spherical harmonics up to degree and order 180 corresponding to a global spatial resolution of 1 degree in latitude and longitude. In this paper, we outline the input data sets and the process of combining these data sets into a coherent model of temporal gravity field changes. The resulting time series was used in some follow-on studies and is available to anybody interested via a Website.


Knowledge of the size distribution of comets and asteroids can be obtained from two sources. First the planet Earth can be regarded as a detector and the diameter distribution of Earth craters used to assess the mass distribution of the incident bodies. Secondly observations from Earth of the characteristics and orbits of comets and asteroids can lead to their collision probabilities and mass distributions. Simplistically it can be stated that the Earth craters have been produced by small incident objects whereas the comets and asteroids that are easily seen are the large ones. This paper seeks to relate these diverse sources of information.


1984 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milan Burša ◽  
Zdislav Šíma ◽  
M. Pick

GEODYNAMICS ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2(31)2021 (2(31)) ◽  
pp. 29-40
Author(s):  
Mykhailo Fys ◽  
◽  
Andrii Brydun ◽  
Mariana Yurkiv ◽  
Andrii Sohor ◽  
...  

Purpose. To investigate the features of the algorithm implementation for finding the derivatives of the spatial distribution function of the planet's masses with the use of high-order Stokes constants and, on the basis of this, to find its analytical expression. According to the given methodology, to carry out calculations with the help of which to carry on the study of dynamic phenomena occurring inside an ellipsoidal planet. The proposed method involves the determination of the derivatives of the mass distribution function by the sum, the coefficients of which are obtained from the system of equations, which is incorrect. In order to solve it, an error-resistant method for calculating unknowns was used. The implementation of the construction is carried out in an iterative way, while for the initial approximation we take the three-dimensional function of the density of the Earth's masses, built according to Stokes constants up to the second order inclusive, by dynamic compression by the one-dimensional density distribution, and we determine the expansion coefficients of the derivatives of the function in the variables to the third order inclusive. They are followed by the corresponding density function, which is then taken as the initial one. The process is repeated until the specified order of approximation is reached. To obtain a stable result, we use the Cesaro summation method (method of means).. The calculations performed with the help of programs that implement the given algorithm, while the achieved high (ninth) order of obtaining the terms of the sum of calculations. The studies of the convergence of the sum of the series have been carried out, and on this basis, a conclusion has been made about the advisability of using the generalized finding of the sums based on the Cesaro method. The optimal number of contents of the sum terms has been chosen, provides convergence both for the mass distribution function and for its derivatives. Calculations of the deviations of mass distribution from the mean value ("inhomogeneities") for extreme points of the earth's geoid, which basically show the total compensation along the radius of the Earth, have been performed. For such three-dimensional distributions, calculations were performed and schematic maps were constructed according to the taken into account values of deviations of three-dimensional distributions of the mean ("inhomogeneities") at different depths reflecting the general structure of the Earth's internal structure. The presented vector diagrams of the horizontal components of the density gradient at characteristic depths (2891 km - core-mantle, 700 km - middle of the mantle, also the upper mantle - 200, 100 km) allow us to draw preliminary conclusions about the global movement of masses. At the same time, a closed loop is observed on the “core-mantle” edge, which is an analogy of a closed electric circuit. For shallower depths, differentiation of vector motions is already taking place, which gives hope for attracting these vector-grams to the study of dynamic motions inside the Earth. In fact, the vertical component (derivative with respect to the z variable) is directed towards the center of mass and confirms the main property of mass distributions - growth when approaching the center of mass. The method of stable solution of incorrect linear systems is applied, by means of which the vector-gram of the gradient of the mass distribution function is constructed. The nature of such schemes provides a tool for possible causes of mass redistribution in the middle of the planet and to identify possible factors of tectonic processes in the middle of the Earth, i.e indirectly confirms the gravitational convection of masses. The proposed technique can be used to create detailed models of density functions and its characteristics (derivatives) of the planet's interior, and the results of numerical experiments - to solve tectonics problems.


1987 ◽  
Vol 31 (04) ◽  
pp. 282-293
Author(s):  
Adrian Birbanescu-Biran

Dynamic sea load calculations require the lumping of the ship into a number of mass sections. For each such section, its mass, center of gravity and some components of its tensor of inertia must be calculated. Previously, this problem was solved by tedious methods. This paper presents a general method of calculating these data out of a database containing the mass data of all ship items. The method is based on the notion of distribution functions of mass properties. It is shown that two types of mass distribution functions can be used for representing all possible distributions. These functions are the step mass distribution and the second-degree mass distribution functions. Distribution functions of moments and moments of inertia can be calculated from the mass distribution functions by analytic integration and/or multiplications. The distribution functions are also an easy means of calculating the mass properties of a jumboized ship, starting from the data of the original ship.


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