Core Eigenmodes and their Impact on the Earth’s Rotation

Changes in the Earth’s rotation are deeply connected to fluid dynamical processes in the outer core. This connection can be explored by studying the associated Earth eigenmodes with periods ranging from nearly diurnal to multi-decadal. It is essential to understand how the rotational and fluid core eigenmodes mutually interact, as well as their dependence on a host of diverse factors, such as magnetic effects, density stratification, fluid instabilities or turbulence. It is feasible to build detailed models including many of these features, and doing so will in turn allow us to extract more (indirect) information about the Earth’s interior. In this article, we present a review of some of the current models, the numerical techniques, their advantages and limitations and the challenges on the road ahead.

Reasons Why Geomagnetic Field Generation is Physically Impossible in Earth’s Fluid Core

Despite the importance for understanding the nature of the geomagnetic field, and especially its potential for radically disrupting modern civilization [1], virtually all scientific publications relating to it are based upon the false assumption that the geomagnetic field is generated in the Earth’s fluid core. By adhering to an outmoded paradigm, members of the geoscience community have potentially exposed humanity to globally devastating risks, leaving it unprepared for an inevitable geomagnetic field collapse. There is no scientific reason to believe that the geomagnetic field is generated within the fluid core. Convection is physically impossible in the fluid core due to its compression by the weight above and its inability to sustain an adverse temperature gradient. There is no evidence of ongoing inner core growth to provide energy to drive thermal convection or to cause compositional convection. Moreover, there is no mechanism to account for magnetic reversals and no means for magnetic seed-field production within the fluid core to initiate dynamo amplification. Earth’s nuclear georeactor, seat of the geomagnetic field, has none of the problems inherent in putative fluid-core geomagnetic field production. With a mass of about one ten-millionth that of the fluid core, georeactor sub-shell convection can potentially be disrupted by great planetary trauma, such as an asteroid impact, or by major solar outbursts or even by human activities, for example, by deliberate electromagnetic disturbance of the near-Earth environment, including the Van Allen belts. Furthermore, sub-shell convection disruption might trigger surface geophysical disasters, such as super-volcano eruptions [2-4]. Scientists have a fundamental responsibility to tell the truth and to provide scientific understanding that benefits humanity.

Microcapillary Reactors via Coaxial Electrospinning: Fabrication of Small Poly(Acrylic Acid) Gel Beads and Thin Threads of Biological Cell Dimensions

Poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) bulk gels and threads, typically derived via free-radical polymerization, are of interest as anionic polyelectrolyte mimics of cellular cytosol and as models for early protocells. The thread dimensions have been limited by the diameters of readily-available glass or plastic capillaries, and threads with diameters of less than 50 µm have been difficult to achieve. Here, we report a useful approach for achieving crosslinked, partially neutralized PAA, namely poly(acrylate), gel threads with diameters of a few microns when dry. This technique utilizes coaxial electrospinning to effectively produce capillaries (shells) of polystyrene loaded with a gel-forming precursor mixture composed of 3 M acrylic acid, methylene-bisacrylamide, potassium persulfate and 2.2 M NaOH in the core, followed by thermally-induced polymerization and then the removal of the polystyrene shell. Relatively long (up to 5 mm), continuous PAA threads with thicknesses of 5–15 µm are readily obtained, along with a multitude of PAA gel particles, which result from the occasional break-up of the fluid core prior to gel formation during the electrospinning process. The threads and beads are of the sizes of interest to model ancient protocells, certain functional aspects of excitable cells, such as myocytes and neurons, and various membraneless organelles.

Implications of second order nutation terms in IAU2000 framework

<p>IAU2000 (Mathews et al. 2002) incorporates some second order terms in the sense of perturbation theories in its formulation. In particular, the second order Poisson amplitudes independent of the Earth structure. They are borrowed from the rigid Earth theory REN2000 by Souchay et al. (1999). Their inclusion, however, is inconsistent (Escapa et al. 2020) since they are convolved with the MHB2000 transfer function, rendering them Earth dependent.</p><p>In that IAU2000 scheme, second order contributions depending on the Earth structure are totally ignored, as it is the case in the rigid Earth theory (Souchay et al. 1999). That structure dependent terms affect both a part of Poisson second order amplitudes and all the Oppolzer ones. Getino et al. (2021) have shown that the numerical contribution of the ignored Poisson terms is not negligible. In addition, the dependence of the respective amplitudes on the fluid core present quite different features from those of first order terms.</p><p>These facts pose some significant problems in the application of IAU2000 transfer function and the estimation of basic Earth parameters when second order terms are included, which are discussed in this communication.</p>

A First Assessment of the interconnection between celestial pole offset and geomagnetic field variations

<p>The Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS) of the International Association of Geodesy (IAG) provides the geodetic infrastructure needed to monitor the Earth system.. The understanding of forced temporal variations of celestial pole motion (CPM) could bring us significantly closer to meeting the GGOS goals (i.e. 1 mm accuracy and 0.1 mm/year stability on global scales in terms of the ITRF defining parameters). Besides astronomical forcing, CPM excitation depends on the processes in the fluid core and the core-mantle boundary. The same processes are responsible for the variations of the geomagnetic field (GMF). This study investigates the interconnection between the celestial pole offset (CPO) and effective geophysical processes that contribute to the Earth's rotational variation. We use the CPO time series obtained from very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations together with the latest GMF data such as geomagnetic jerk and magnetic dipole moment, and a state-of-the-art geomagnetic field model to explore the correlation between CPM and GMF. <br>Our results confirm the findings of previous studies, revealing that  substantial free core nutation (FCN) disturbance occurred at the epochs close to the GMJ events. The results also reveal some common features in the FCN and GMF variation, which show the potential to improve knowledge regarding the GMF's contribution to the Earth's rotation.</p>

Core–mantle topographic coupling: a parametric approach and implications for the formulation of a triaxial three-layered Earth rotation

SUMMARY We propose a parametric approach to the topographic (TOP) coupling between the mantle and outer core for refinement of the latest triaxial three-layered Earth rotation theory. Based on three models of the core–mantle boundary (CMB) topography, we obtain the axial components of the TOP torque as −2.08 × 1019, −2.72 × 1018 and −1.97 × 1017 N m, respectively. Under the frame of the triaxial three-layered Earth rotation theory, we solve the corresponding periods of free core nutation as −(329.83 ± 28.12), −(457.54 ± ∼) and −(428.23 ± 1.09) mean solar days (d), respectively. The other three normal modes, namely, Chandler wobble, inner core wobble and free inner core nutation, are almost not affected by the TOP coupling of the CMB, their period values being 433.24, 2718.69 and 934.02 d, respectively. Calculations show that the TOP torque is highly sensitive to the adopted model of the topography, which is known to be robust. Taking into account the normal modes of the triaxial three-layered Earth rotation, the results of the CMB topography obtained by seismic tomography can be constrained in the future to a certain extent. In this study, considering the TOP coupling with the appropriate topography model, the estimates for the dynamic ellipticity ef of the fluid core lie between 0.0026340 and 0.0026430, values that are 3.56 % higher than the hydrostatic equilibrium value.

A Superfluid Perspective on Neutron Star Dynamics

As mature neutron stars are cold (on the relevant temperature scale), one has to carefully consider the state of matter in their interior. The outer kilometre or so is expected to freeze to form an elastic crust of increasingly neutron-rich nuclei, coexisting with a superfluid neutron component, while the star’s fluid core contains a mixed superfluid/superconductor. The dynamics of the star depend heavily on the parameters associated with the different phases. The presence of superfluidity brings new degrees of freedom—in essence we are dealing with a complex multi-fluid system—and additional features: bulk rotation is supported by a dense array of quantised vortices, which introduce dissipation via mutual friction, and the motion of the superfluid is affected by the so-called entrainment effect. This brief survey provides an introduction to—along with a commentary on our current understanding of—these dynamical aspects, paying particular attention to the role of entrainment, and outlines the impact of superfluidity on neutron-star seismology.

SIMULATION OF BREED AND BURN FUEL CYCLE OPERATION OF MOLTEN SALT REACTOR IN BATCH-WISE REFUELING MODE

The Molten Salt Reactor (MSR) is one of the most revolutionary Gen-IV reactors and it can be operated, especially with chloride salts, in the so-called breed and burn fuel cycle. In this type of fuel cycle the fissile isotopes from spent fuel do not need to be reprocessed, because the excess bred fuel covers the losses. The liquid phase of the MSR fuel assures its instant homogenization, and the reactor can be operated with batch-wise refueling thus reaching an equilibrium state. At the same time, the active core of the chloride fast MSR needs to be bulky to limit neutron leakage. In this study, the code Serpent 2 was coupled to the Python script BBP to simulate batch-wise operation of the breed and burn MSR fuel cycle. The script, previously developed for solid assemblies shuffling, was modified to simulate fuel homogenization after fertile material addition. Several fuel salts and fission products removal strategies were simulated and their impact was analyzed. Similarly, the influence of blanket volume was assessed in a two-fluid core layout. The results showed that the reactivity initially grows during the irradiation period and later decreases. The blanket has a large impact on the performance and it can be used to further increase the fuel burnup or to shrink the active core size. The breed and burn fuel cycle in MSR can reach high fuel utilization without fuel reprocessing and a multi-fluid layout can help to decrease the core size.