skip to main content


Title: On the Physics of the Inner‐Core Wobble; Corrections to “Dynamics of the Inner‐Core Wobble Under Mantle‐Inner‐Core Gravitational Interactions” by B. F. Chao
Abstract

The original paper by Chao (2017,https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JB014405), denoted C17, derived the period of the Earth's free inner‐core wobble (ICW) with a result which was both retrograde and substantially longer than the prograde period derived by previous authors. Here we correct major errors in C17, bringing the result into better agreement with previous derivations, and clarify the role of the various torques on the Earth's inner core (IC) as presented in C17. One serious discrepancy was the magnitude of, the zonal quadrupole of the mantle mass distribution, which is incorrectly evaluated in C17, with a value too large compared to those that have been previously well established for a hydrostatic Earth model. Moreover, an error in the kinematics of the ICW in C17 leads to a wrong sign for the gravitational torque exerted by the mantle on the IC. The combination of these errors led to the erroneous conclusion that the ICW is retrograde, with a much longer period (−15.6 yr) compared to previous derivations, which showed it to be prograde with a period of about +7 yr. In correcting C17, we elucidate the complete torque balance involved in the ICW.

 
more » « less
NSF-PAR ID:
10375145
Author(s) / Creator(s):
 ;  ;  
Publisher / Repository:
DOI PREFIX: 10.1029
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth
Volume:
123
Issue:
11
ISSN:
2169-9313
Page Range / eLocation ID:
Article No. 9998
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. Abstract

    Previously, Tsurutani and Lakhina (2014,https://doi.org/10.1002/2013GL058825) created estimates for a “perfect” interplanetary coronal mass ejection and performed simple calculations for the response of geospace, including. In this study, these estimates are used to drive a coupled magnetohydrodynamic‐ring current‐ionosphere model of geospace to obtain more physically accurate estimates of the geospace response to such an event. The sudden impulse phase is examined and compared to the estimations of Tsurutani and Lakhina (2014,https://doi.org/10.1002/2013GL058825). The physics‐based simulation yields similar estimates for Dst rise, magnetopause compression, and equatorialvalues as the previous study. However, results diverge away from the equator.values in excess of 30 nT/s are found as low asmagnetic latitude. Under southward interplanetary magnetic field conditions, magnetopause erosion combines with strong region one Birkeland currents to intensify theresponse. Values obtained here surpass those found in historically recorded events and set the upper threshold of extreme geomagnetically induced current activity at Earth.

     
    more » « less
  2. Abstract

    Using Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) observations and combined MHD/test particle simulations, we further explore characteristic ion velocity distributions in the plasma sheet boundary layer. The observations are characterized by earthward beams, which at a slightly later time are accompanied by weaker but faster tailward beams. Two events are presented showing different histories. The first event happens at entry from the lobe into the plasma sheet. Energy‐time dispersion indicates a source region about 25 tailward of the satellite. The second event follows the passage of a dipolarization front closer to Earth. In contrast to earlier MHD simulations, but in better qualitative agreement with the first observation, reconnection in the present simulation was initiated near. Simulated distributions right at the boundary are characterized by a single crescent‐shaped earthward beam, as discussed earlier (Birn, Hesse, et al., 2015,https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JA021573). Farther inside, or at a later time, the distributions now also show a simple reflected beam, evolving toward a more ring‐like distribution. The simulations provide insight into the acceleration sites: The innermost edges of the direct and reflected beams consist of ions accelerated in the vicinity of the reconnection site. This supports the validity of estimating the acceleration location based on a time‐of‐flight analysis (after Onsager et al., 1990,https://doi.org/10.1029/GL017i011p01837). However, this assumption becomes invalid at later times when the acceleration becomes dominated by the earthward propagating dipolarization electric field, such that earthward and tailward reflected beams are no longer accelerated at the same location and the same time.

     
    more » « less
  3. Abstract

    Depth‐averaged eddy buoyancy diffusivities across continental shelves and slopes are investigated using a suite of eddy‐resolving, process‐oriented simulations of prograde frontal currents characterized by isopycnals tilted in the opposite direction to the seafloor, a flow regime commonly found along continental margins under downwelling‐favorable winds or occupied by buoyant boundary currents. The diagnosed cross‐slope eddy diffusivity varies by up to three orders of magnitude, decaying fromin the relatively flat‐bottomed region toover the steep continental slope, consistent with previously reported suppression effects of steep topography on baroclinic eddy fluxes. To theoretically constrain the simulated cross‐slope eddy fluxes, we examine extant scalings for eddy buoyancy diffusivities across prograde shelf/slope fronts and in flat‐bottomed oceans. Among all tested scalings, the GEOMETRIC framework developed by D. P. Marshall et al. (2012,https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-11-048.1) and a parametrically similar Eady scale‐based scaling proposed by Jansen et al. (2015,https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocemod.2015.05.007) most accurately reproduce the diagnosed eddy diffusivities across the entire shelf‐to‐open‐ocean analysis regions in our simulations. This result relies upon the incorporation of the topographic suppression effects on eddy fluxes, quantified via analytical functions of the slope Burger number, into the scaling prefactor coefficients. The predictive skills of the GEOMETRIC and Eady scale‐based scalings are shown to be insensitive to the presence of along‐slope topographic corrugations. This work lays a foundation for parameterizing eddy buoyancy fluxes across large‐scale prograde shelf/slope fronts in coarse‐resolution ocean models.

     
    more » « less
  4. Abstract

    The 400 worst‐case severe environments for surface charging detected at Los Alamos National Laboratory satellites during the years of 1990–2005 as binned by the definitions of four criteria developed by Matéo‐Vélez et al. (2018,https://doi.org/10.1002/2017sw001689) and the solar wind and Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) parameters and geomagnetic activity indices are analyzed. The conducted analysis shows that only Auroral Electrojet/Auroral Lower index determines the highest risk for severe environments for surface charging to happen. The presence of a substorm with the southward turning pattern in IMFindicates that the environment can be severe for surface charging to occur but this environment will not depend on whether a substorm was moderate or intense. No clear dependence on IMFis found for risk to a severe environment to occur. Appearances of severe environments for surface charging do not necessarily require high values ofKp(Planetarische Kennziffer) and no storm is needed for such an event to be detected. Among solar wind parameters, solar wind velocityis directly related to the highest risk of severe environments, dependent on thevalue; and number densityis of no importance. Two criteria for severe environment events based on the enhancements of low energy particle fluxes exhibit clearer dependencies on the solar wind and IMF parameters and geomagnetic activity indices with more distinct patterns in their time history.

     
    more » « less
  5. Abstract

    The method to derive aerosol size distributions from in situ stratospheric measurements from the University of Wyoming is modified to include an explicit counting efficiency function (CEF) to describe the channel‐dependent instrument counting efficiency. This is motivated by Kovilakam and Deshler's (2015,https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JD023303) discovery of an error in the calibration method applied to the optical particle counter (OPC40) developed in the late 1980s and used from 1991 to 2012. The method can be applied to other optical aerosol instruments for which counting efficiencies have been measured. The CEF employed is the integral of the Gaussian distribution representing the instrument response at any one aerosol channel, the aerosol counting efficiency. Results using the CEF are compared to previous derivations of aerosol size distributions (Deshler et al., 2003,https://doi.org/10.1029/2002JD002514) applied to the measurements before and after Kovilakam and Deshler's correction of number concentration for the OPC40 calibration error. The CEF method is found, without any tuning parameter, to reproduce or improve upon the Kovilakam and Deshler's results, thus accounting for the calibration error without any external comparisons other than the laboratory determined counting efficiency at each aerosol channel. Moments of the new aerosol size distributions compare well with aerosol extinctions measured by Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment II and Halogen Occultation Experiment in the volcanic period 1991–1996, generally within ±40%, the precision of OPC40 moments, and in the nonvolcanic period after 1996, generally within ±20%. Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment II and Halogen Occultation Experiment estimates of aerosol surface area are generally in agreement with those derived using the new CEF method.

     
    more » « less