Seismic observations shows that the inner core rotates faster than the mantle and the rotation axis of the inner core may not align with the rotation axis of the mantle. Free core nutation reflects core's informat...Seismic observations shows that the inner core rotates faster than the mantle and the rotation axis of the inner core may not align with the rotation axis of the mantle. Free core nutation reflects core's information. We discuss the effect of the inner core's differential rotation on free core nutation from two aspects: rotation speed and deflection angle. Our result shows it is in accordance with the observations when the inner core's rotation speed doesn't exceed 10° faster than mantle's per year, and the deflection angle is less than 1°,if the rotation speed and the deflection angle are respectively considered separately.展开更多
Motivated by the desire to understand the rich dynamics of precessionally driven flow in a liquid planetary core, we investigate, through numerical simulations, the precessing fluid motion in a ro- taring cylindrical ...Motivated by the desire to understand the rich dynamics of precessionally driven flow in a liquid planetary core, we investigate, through numerical simulations, the precessing fluid motion in a ro- taring cylindrical annulus, which simultaneously possesses slow precession. The same problem has been studied extensively in cylinders, where the precessing flow is characterized by three key parameters： the Ekman number E, the Poincar6 number Po and the radius-height aspect ratio F. While in an annulus, there is another parameter, the inner-radius-height aspect ratio T, which also plays an important role in controlling the structure and evolution of the flow. By decomposing the nonlinear solution into a set of inertial modes, we demonstrate the properties of both weakly and moderately precessing flows. It is found that, when the precessional force is weak, the flow is stable with a constant amplitude of kinetic energy. As the precessional force increases, our simulation suggests that the nonlinear interaction be- tween the boundary effects and the inertial modes can trigger more turbulence, introducing a transitional regime of rich dynamics to disordered flow. The inertial mode u111, followed by u113 or u112, always dominates the precessing flow when 0.001 ≤Po ≤ 0.05, ranging from weak to moderate precession. Moreover, the precessing flow in an annulus shows more stability than in a cylinder which is likely to be caused by the effect of the inner boundary that restricts the growth of resonant and non-resonant inertial modes. Furthermore, the mechanism of triadic resonance is not found in the transitional regime from a laminar to disordered flow.展开更多
In this review paper, we examine the changes in the Earth orientation in space and focus on the nutation（shorter-term periodic variations）, which is superimposed on precession（long-term trend on a timescale of year...In this review paper, we examine the changes in the Earth orientation in space and focus on the nutation（shorter-term periodic variations）, which is superimposed on precession（long-term trend on a timescale of years）. We review the nutation modelling involving several coupling mechanisms at the core-mantle boundary using the Liouville angular momentum equations for a two-layered Earth with a liquid flattened core. The classical approach considers a Poincare fluid for the core with an inertial pressure coupling mechanism at the core-mantle boundary. We examine possible additional coupling mechanisms to explain the observations. In particular, we examine how we can determine the flattening of the core as well as information on the magnetic field and the core flow from the nutation observations. The precision of the observations is shown to be high enough to increase our understanding on the coupling mechanisms at the core-mantle boundary.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (11373058/11773058/10903023/11133004)the CAS Key Lab of Planetary Science
文摘Seismic observations shows that the inner core rotates faster than the mantle and the rotation axis of the inner core may not align with the rotation axis of the mantle. Free core nutation reflects core's information. We discuss the effect of the inner core's differential rotation on free core nutation from two aspects: rotation speed and deflection angle. Our result shows it is in accordance with the observations when the inner core's rotation speed doesn't exceed 10° faster than mantle's per year, and the deflection angle is less than 1°,if the rotation speed and the deflection angle are respectively considered separately.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.11673052 and 41661164034)the Pilot Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(No.XDB18010203)
文摘Motivated by the desire to understand the rich dynamics of precessionally driven flow in a liquid planetary core, we investigate, through numerical simulations, the precessing fluid motion in a ro- taring cylindrical annulus, which simultaneously possesses slow precession. The same problem has been studied extensively in cylinders, where the precessing flow is characterized by three key parameters： the Ekman number E, the Poincar6 number Po and the radius-height aspect ratio F. While in an annulus, there is another parameter, the inner-radius-height aspect ratio T, which also plays an important role in controlling the structure and evolution of the flow. By decomposing the nonlinear solution into a set of inertial modes, we demonstrate the properties of both weakly and moderately precessing flows. It is found that, when the precessional force is weak, the flow is stable with a constant amplitude of kinetic energy. As the precessional force increases, our simulation suggests that the nonlinear interaction be- tween the boundary effects and the inertial modes can trigger more turbulence, introducing a transitional regime of rich dynamics to disordered flow. The inertial mode u111, followed by u113 or u112, always dominates the precessing flow when 0.001 ≤Po ≤ 0.05, ranging from weak to moderate precession. Moreover, the precessing flow in an annulus shows more stability than in a cylinder which is likely to be caused by the effect of the inner boundary that restricts the growth of resonant and non-resonant inertial modes. Furthermore, the mechanism of triadic resonance is not found in the transitional regime from a laminar to disordered flow.
基金funding from the European Research Council under ERC Advanced Grant 670874
文摘In this review paper, we examine the changes in the Earth orientation in space and focus on the nutation（shorter-term periodic variations）, which is superimposed on precession（long-term trend on a timescale of years）. We review the nutation modelling involving several coupling mechanisms at the core-mantle boundary using the Liouville angular momentum equations for a two-layered Earth with a liquid flattened core. The classical approach considers a Poincare fluid for the core with an inertial pressure coupling mechanism at the core-mantle boundary. We examine possible additional coupling mechanisms to explain the observations. In particular, we examine how we can determine the flattening of the core as well as information on the magnetic field and the core flow from the nutation observations. The precision of the observations is shown to be high enough to increase our understanding on the coupling mechanisms at the core-mantle boundary.
