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Rotation and Magnetism of Earth's Inner Core
1G. A. Glatzmaier, Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA. E-mail: gag@lanl.gov P. H. Roberts, Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
Science (New York, N.Y.)
|December 13, 1996
Abstract:
Three-dimensional numerical simulations of the geodynamo suggest that a super- rotation of Earth's solid inner core relative to the mantle is maintained by magnetic coupling between the inner core and an eastward thermal wind in the fluid outer core. This mechanism, which is analogous to a synchronous motor, also plays a fundamental role in the generation of Earth's magnetic field.