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The Rotation of Earth’s Inner Core Might Be Reversing

In 2003, Hollywood released a disaster movie called core in which the Earth’s core inexplicably stops spinning—threatening to destroy all life as we know it due to a collapsing magnetic field. To fix it, a group of scientists is tasked with digging a cave under the shell and enable core to make it start coming back.

It’s a really ridiculous and complicated story even by Hollywood standards. But as it turns out, there might be some truth to the idea that the Earth’s core can stop or change its rotation—and even lead to some weird effects here on the surface.

An international team of researchers has discovered evidence that Earth’s inner core may have recently stopped before reversing its rotation. While it may not destroy all life on the planet, the reversal could lead to some changes to Earth’s own rotation. One paper of research was published on January 23 in the magazine Natural geosciences.

“It has an impact on the Earth’s magnetic field and rotation,” said Xiaodong Song, a seismologist at the SinoProbe Laboratory at Peking University’s School of Earth and Space Sciences and a co-author of the study. soil, and possibly surface and climate processes”. The Daily Beast in an email. “It’s hard to say good or bad, but there’s something to watch out for as part of the earth’s global change.”

When we talk about the Earth’s core, we usually refer to two things: the outer core, which is liquid and made up of molten iron and nickel; and the inner core, which is a solid sphere of iron-nickel alloy. The inner core is separated from the rest of the Earth by the outer core, so it also rotates differently. Since it is a giant metal sphere, it carries its own electric current that creates a magnetic field that surrounds our planet and protects us from cosmic radiation. Without this magnetic field, the Earth would be a barren, irradiated land.

The Earth’s core creates a magnetic field that surrounds our planet and protects us from cosmic radiation. Without this magnetic field, the Earth would be a barren, irradiated land.

TUMEGGY/SCIENCE GALLERY via Getty

So core research isn’t just an interesting project to better understand how the Earth works; it is also necessary to hint us at potential changes that could affect life on the surface.

To reach their findings, Song and his co-author (Peking University research scientist Yi Yang) measured changes in both the waveform and the travel time of seismic waves from earthquakes have passed through the inner core since the 1960s. They found that “time changes in wave shape disappeared simultaneously and continuously” around 2009, indicating that the inner core in has stopped spinning.

However, Song said they also observed a “slight but strong opposite trend” in the waveform, which suggests that the inner core may have begun to reverse its rotation. The authors believe this may be part of a seven-decade cycle in which the core rotates and reverses. This cycle coincides with changes in the Earth’s magnetic field.

But Song adds that “we have not yet seen the full cycle of the seven-decade oscillation predicted” and that the team will “pursue more recent data to test models and predictions”.

Lucky for us, the researchers also explained that we are unlikely to encounter any apocalyptic scenarios. The reversal would also not greatly affect the Earth’s magnetic field—resulting in a north-to-south magnetic pole reversal, and vice versa.

“The rotation of the inner core is most likely related to periodic oscillations of magnetic field changes,” said Song. “The volatility is too small to change its sign from positive to negative.”

However, it might be a good idea to assemble a team of scientists in case we need a nuclear attack for whatever reason. Maybe Elon Musk’s Boring Company will eventually have something useful to accomplish.



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