Scientists report instability in Earth's core

A study of the Peking University, the China, stated that the core of EARTH it may have slowed down relative to the rest of the planet, after years of believing that the center of our sphere rotated faster. Check out a video of seeker about what the core of the planet looks like.

Is the Earth's core going backwards?

The new discoveries could help expand our knowledge about the core, as there isn't a wide range of in-depth studies about it. The research, published in the journal Nature Geoscience Chinese led by seismologists Yiyang e Xiaodong Song analyzed earthquakes between 1995 and 2021 and from the data concluded that the nucleus of the EARTH it is not running at the same speed as before, which could alter our notion of days and nights.

There is even a possibility of a counter-rotation, or rather, instead of the core turning to the east, as the Earth does, the change makes it turn to the west, this is the phenomenon studied by the Chinese duo. The study states that the adverse movement occurs during 70 years, but the rotation change happens every 35 years. At the moment, according to the report, this transition is close to happening again.

Yang and Song's study analyzed seismic waves and reported that there was little change in the intervals of seismic activity, indicating a possible pause in the core, this phenomenon is just a theory. The scientists commented on the findings:

“The inner core rotates eastwards, faster than the crust, but since 2009 it has paused and is rotating in reverse, slower than the surface. If the wobble is correct, we expect the core to stay that way until about 2040.” Song reported to reverse.

“We believe that the central nucleus is, in relation to the surface of the EARTH, rotating in one direction and then the other, like a swing.(…) A complete cycle of this movement lasts around seven decades, which means that it changes direction approximately every 35 years” commented the AFP.

Our concept of hours and minutes is caused by the rotation of the core, which drives and controls the gravitational power internally and externally, a possible slowdown, small and barely detectable, will cause changes in the duration of time in relation to days, months and years , but only for seconds.

other perspectives

Jon Vidale, seismologist at University of California, disagrees with the analysis of the Chinese researchers. Using studies of earthquakes and nuclear test explosions, he argues that the inner core is not connected to producing the magnetic field and our notion of year and time. This is reserved for the liquid metal stream closest to the crust.

For Vidale, the core of EARTH it tends to change its trajectory every six years and the days are delayed by 0,01 milliseconds when gyrating to the west and 0,12 milliseconds to the east. The researcher claims that the two proposals cannot coexist, however, he is not sure which is correct. He also points out that his data reading was made from 1964 to 2021, a longer period than Yang e Song.

One more point observed by researchers, this time Lianxing Wen, New York University e bruce buffet, University of California, it is the deformation of the space between the inner and outer core that can cause this oscillation reported by Yang, Song e vidale be noticed.

final summary

Many theories exist about how the core works and what effect it has on the planet's rotation and magnetism, but research such as Yang, Song e vidale are vital to understanding how EARTH is calibrated. Both could not state that the works are final, but admit that they contradict other research and that these sources are necessary.

Yang e Song conclude that the mass tends to stop in an interval of 70 years and perform a movement contrary to that of the Earth, but that it does not last more than 35 years. Furthermore, they found that this alternation affects our relationship between day and night. vidale reports a gradual and standardized change every six years, working like a pendulum, without representing visible changes to society.

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Sources: Nature, G1, reverse, and The Hill