Is our Inner Core Slowing Down and or Reversing?

A new article in Study Finds, states that “Earth’s inner core… has slowed its rotation, according to new research.” The inner core is within the outer core [which is within the mantle] and is filled with iron. USC “scientists …say their discovering challenges previous notions about the inner core’s behavior and raises intriguing questions about its influence on Earth’s dynamics.”

Previously QuakeCov had written about earth’s core oscillation and “the differential rotation of Earth’s [that[ inner core relative to the mantle”. Oscillation can be defined as “Oscillation is the process of moving back and forth regularly.” And in yet another article QuakeCov had written about an Alien planet had crashed into Earth and the relationship that may have to earthquakes on our planet. In that article it says that “strange anomalies in Earth’s interior may be relics of a world.”

In this brief article we learn about new ideas on the speed and potential direction of earths inner core.

The Inner Core:

There is a lot not known about the inner core, for obvious reasons – its hard to get to. But it is believed that the inner core plays a significant role in “generating our planet’s magnetic field.” According to Australian National University ” the Earth’s inner core contains about 10% of the total magnetic field energy.” And “It plays a crucial role in outer core liquid motions and the geodynamo, which generates the Earth’s magnetic field. Without the magnetic field, life on Earth would be impossible.”

The Inner Core Oberservations and Experiment:

A scientist states ““When I first saw the seismograms that hinted at this change, I was stumped,” says John Vidale, Dean’s …. “But when we found two dozen more observations signaling the same pattern, the result was inescapable. The inner core had slowed down for the first time in many decades. Other scientists have recently argued for similar and different models, but our latest study provides the most convincing resolution.”

Scientists stuided “seismic waves generated by repeating earthquakes in the South Sandwich Islands from 1991 to 2023” and they “discovered that the inner core’s rotation had not only slowed down but had actually reversed direction.” Yes you read that correctly they believe that the core changed directions! And they studied earthquakes to learn about it.

In fact earthquakes and Seimic waves are often used to study the earth.

Of Seimic Waves and the Core:

Going back to the same Austalian Nat University article, “As seismic waves produced by earthquakes, explosions, and other natural phenomena reverberate through the solid Earth, they are reflected or scattered from discontinuities within and between the crust, mantle, and inner and outer core. Changes in the composition and temperature of Earth’s minerals cause the waves to change their speed, bend, and even reverse their paths, all of which is manifested in recorded seismograms. The waves that traverse the inner core are thus the only direct probe available, and they become a subject of study.”

The Sun Is About to Flip

Additionally and Separatly the Suns magnetic core is about to flip. Space.com reports “The sun is on the verge of a significant event: a magnetic field reversal.” Think its unusual, well according to Space “this phenomenon happens roughly every 11 years…” and “The shift in polarity indicates the halfway point of solar maximum…” This magnetic flip or reversal is brought on “by sunspots, magnetically complex regions of the sun’s surface.”

Study Finds: find the entire article here.