Earth's rotating inner core is starting to slow down — and it could alter the length of our days

Live Science ^ | June 19, 2024 | Harry Baker

[SunkenCiv]

...The heart of our planet has been spinning unusually slowly for the past 14 years, new research confirms. And if this mysterious trend continues, it could potentially lengthen Earth's days — though the effects would likely be imperceptible to us.

Earth's inner core is a roughly moon-size chunk of solid iron and nickel that lies more than 3,000 miles (4,800 kilometers) below our feet. It is surrounded by the outer core — a superhot layer of molten metals similar to those in the inner core — which is surrounded by a more solid sea of molten rock, known as the mantle, and the crust. Although the entire planet rotates, the inner core can spin at a slightly different speed as the mantle and crust due to the viscosity of the outer core.

Since scientists started mapping Earth's inner layers with detailed seismic activity records around 40 years ago, the inner core has rotated slightly faster than the mantle and the crust. But in a new study... researchers found that since 2010, the inner core has been slowing down and is now rotating a bit more slowly than our planet's outer layers...

In the new study, researchers analyzed data from more than 100 repeating earthquakes — seismic events that occur repeatedly at the same location — along a tectonic plate boundary in the South Sandwich Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean between 1991 and 2023...

The inner core remains one of the most mysterious of Earth's hidden layers. But in recent years, new technologies are allowing researchers to learn more about the inner core, including that it is slightly lopsided, that it is softer than expected, that it potentially wobbles off Earth's axis and that it has a separate innermost core.

[SunkenCiv]

The viscosity of the liquid outer core allows the inner core to spin faster or slower than the mantle and crust.

Image credit: USC Graphic/Edward Sotelo

[SunkenCiv]

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join or quit view topics view or post blog bookmark post new topic subscribe

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[know.your.why]

A direct result of the presidential debate three days ago.

[Olog-hai]

... which is surrounded by a more solid sea of molten rock ...

Get your phases right, guys.

[bgill]

Imperceptible to us but lets worry the people anyway.

[janetjanet998]

Does this mean we only have 7.135792468 years left instead of 7.135782469?

[SunkenCiv]

The rest of two keywords -- Potsdam Gravity Potato and Chandler Wobble -- sorted:

• It's Official: The Rotation of Earth's Inner Core Really Is Slowing Down [06/14/2024]
• Scientists discover remains of a 'buried planet' deep inside EARTH [05/07/2024]
• New Research Sheds Light on Moon's Mysterious Seismic Activity [02/27/2024]
• For the 1st time, scientists confirm the moon has a solid iron 'heart' just like Earth [05/07/2023]
• 'Significant Global Event From The Past': Scientists Get Shocking Evidence From Earth's Inner Core [02/22/2023]
• CAPSTONE Becomes First Probe to Enter Unique Halo Orbit Around the Moon [11/14/2022]
• Earth Is spinning faster now than it was 50 years ago [08/02/2022]
• The Earth Just Started Spinning Faster Than Ever [07/29/2022]
• Geologists Have Closely Analyzed Two Bizarre 'Blobs' Detected Deep Inside Earth [03/11/2022]
• Wild New Paper Suggests Earth's Tectonic Activity Has an Unseen Source [01/27/2022]
• Recordings of the magnetic field from 9,000 years ago teach us about the magnetic field today [12/11/2021]
• NASA's New X-Ray Telescope Is A Revolution in Astronomy and Launch Profiles [SpaceX, Van Allen Belt, South Atlantic Anomaly] [12/11/2021]
• Is Earth's core lopsided? Strange goings-on in our planet's interior [06/05/2021]
• How long is a day on Venus? It's always changing, new study reveals [05/11/2021]
• Earth wobble: Unprecedented and widespread water receding event across Croatia worries locals (photos and videos) [04/02/2021]
• Vast Fragments of an Alien World Could Be Buried Deep Within Earth Itself [03/25/2021]
• Scientists Detect Signs of a Hidden Structure Inside Earth's Core [03/04/2021]
• The spacecraft-killing anomaly over the South Atlantic [02/20/2021]
• The Herky-Jerky Weirdness of Earth's Magnetic Field [12/23/2020]
• Earth Keeps Pulsating Every 26 Seconds. No One Knows Why. [11/04/2020]
• Positional Changes in the Sun: Changes to the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn [08/23/2020]
• NASA Is Tracking a Vast, Growing Anomaly in Earth's Magnetic Field [08/18/2020]
• Search for MH370 Revealed Ocean Crust Waves [06/12/2020]
• Scientists detect unexpected widespread structures near Earth's core [06/12/2020]
• Part of Earth's Magnetic Field is Getting Weaker in 'Vigorously' Developing Anomaly, Scientists Say [05/22/2020]
• Rapid Drift of Magnetic North Explained [05/19/2020]
• Something Strange Sends Tech Haywire at Earth's Poles, And NASA Wants to Know More [11/30/2019]
• The sun follows the rhythm of the planets [06/05/2019]
• How Earth's mantle is like a Jackson Pollock painting [05/21/2019]
• Earth's magnetic pole is on the move, fast. And we don't know why [01/12/2019]
• Shifting North Magnetic Pole Forces Unprecedented Navigation Fix [01/11/2019]
• Earth's magnetic field is acting up and geologists don't know why [01/10/2019]
• The Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project [12/30/2018]
• Scientists model Mercury's glaciers [12/28/2018]
• Jupiter and Venus Change Earth's Orbit Every 405,000 Years [05/10/2018]
• Earth's Second Magnetic Field: Satellite Image Reveals Invisible Force From Ocean Currents [04/12/2018]
• US Navy locates crashed plane deep on Pacific seabed [01/06/2018]
• MARS AND EARTH MAY NOT HAVE BEEN EARLY NEIGHBORS [12/19/2017]
• Upsurge in big earthquakes predicted for 2018 as Earth rotation slows [11/21/2017]
• New Seafloor Map Reveals How Strange the Gulf of Mexico Is [05/27/2017]
• The Search for MH370 Revealed Secrets of the Deep Ocean [03/12/2017]
• Earth's Magnetic Field is Changing [12/23/2016]
• Scientists find 500 U.S. seabed vents of powerful greenhouse gas [10/21/2016]
• Vast asteroid created 'Man in Moon's eye' crater [07/20/2016]
• Seabed Scanning for East Anglian windfarm reveals Uncharted WWI German Submarine [01/25/2016]
• Explosive volcanoes ended Earth's time as a snowball: Huge eruptions broke our planet's deep freeze [01/18/2016]
• Ocean Search for Malaysian Airliner Finds 2nd Shipwreck [MH370] [01/14/2016]
• Climate Change Is Making the Earth Wobble [12/12/2015]
• Seabed Gives Up Spanish Armada Wreck Cannons [06/18/2015]
• MH370 search discovers a shipwreck not the missing plane [05/13/2015]
• Astronomy Picture of the Day -- Gravitational Anomalies of Mercury [05/05/2015]
• Ice age polarity reversal was global event: [04/06/2015]
• Inconvenient study: Methane seepage from the Arctic seabed has been occurring for millions of years [02/07/2015]
• Seafloor volcano pulses may alter climate: [02/05/2015]
• AirAsia QZ8501: Plane tail lifted from seabed [01/10/2015]
• Astronomy Picture of the Day -- The Potsdam Gravity Potato [12/15/2014]
• Earth's Pole Has Moved 161 Miles In The Last 6 Months [06/02/2013]
• Earth's Chandler Wobble Changed Dramatically in 2005 [02/23/2013]
• Earth Is Undergoing True Polar Wander, Scientists Say [10/03/2012]
• Scafetta's new paper attempts to link climate cycles to planetary motion ( March 2012) [08/08/2012]
• When straying Jupiter went on the pull [02/15/2012]
• Earth Must Have Another Moon, Say Astronomers [12/22/2011]
• Who Needs a Moon? [05/28/2011]
• Potato Earth: Gravity satellite reveals what our planet REALLY looks like [03/31/2011]
• Wind can keep mountains from growing [03/28/2011]
• Magnetic Polar Shifts Causing Massive Global Superstorms [02/09/2011]
• Magnetic polar shifts causing massive global superstorms [02/06/2011]
• Cosmic Impact Site That Created Earth's Axial Tilt and Fault Lines [12/08/2010]
• Sun, moon trigger San Andreas tremors: study [12/23/2009]
• Air France 447 electrical problems and the South Atlantic Anomaly [06/05/2009]
• The Moon reveals its weirder side - SELENE mission reports on gravity anomalies. [02/16/2009]
• Were Mercury and Mars separated at birth? [01/19/2009]
• Venus' Tail of the Unexpected [02/23/2008]
• North By Northwest [12/21/2007]
• New data challenge Earth atmosphere theory [11/03/2007]
• The Money and Connections Behind Al Gore's Carbon Crusade [10/09/2007]
• Geophysicist Discovers Why Earth 'Wobbles' [ 2004 ] [06/27/2007]
• Satellites Solve Mystery Of Low Gravity Over Canada [05/11/2007]
• In Climate Controversy, Industry Cedes Ground [01/23/2007]
• New insights into composition of giant planets [10/18/2006]
• The 'wobble' that wipes out life on Earth every 2.5m years [10/11/2006]
• Does a giant crater lie beneath the Antarctic ice? [06/05/2006]
• Ice Ages Blamed On Tilted Earth [04/30/2006]
• How long have the Scientists Known? [02/03/2006]
• Global Warming Needs New Look at Mechanisms Involved [01/26/2006]
• Rhythmic Submarine Volcanos And El El Niños [08/29/2005]
• Exploring The Ocean Basins With Satellite Altimeter Data [03/28/2005]
• Chandler's Wobble Causes Earthquakes, Volcanism, El Nino, and Global Warming [01/18/2005]
• Gravity variations predict earthquake behavior [08/04/2003]
• 'Potato' Earth's Deep Secrets (Gravity Map) [07/24/2003]
• Mysterious Shift in Earth's Gravity Suggests Equator is Bulging [08/01/2002]
• Astronomy Picture Of The Day : A Gravity Map of Earth [11/13/2001]

[TexasGator]

“A direct result of the presidential debate three days ago.”

Written ten days ago.

[Fireone]

No wonder it seems like this Obama/Biden nightmare has gone on forever.

[jerod]

When we explode into a sun, that will be the fun part.

[Smiling Jack500]

Due to climate change I assume.

[gundog]

Whoa...it’s happening already.

[Repeal The 17th]

Earth’s inner core paused, then reversed its spin. This is fine
01/23/2023 6:05:57 PM PST · by DoodleBob · 64 replies
Seattle Times ^ | January 23, 2023 | Robert George Andrews
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4125542/posts
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Earth’s Inner Core May Have Started Rotating in the Opposite Direction
01/24/2023 1:31:37 AM PST · by blueplum · 65 replies
Newsweek ^ | 23 Jan 2023 | Aristos Georgiou
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4125583/posts
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Uh, Earth’s Inner Core Just Stopped Spinning
02/15/2023 5:21:53 AM PST · by EBH · 60 replies
Popular Mechanics ^ | 2/15/23
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4131181/posts
-
‘Significant Global Event From The Past’: Scientists Get Shocking Evidence From Earth’s Inner Core
02/22/2023 12:40:46 PM PST · by Red Badger · 27 replies
Daily Caller ^ | February 22, 2023 10:38 AM ET | KAY SMYTHE
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4133064/posts
-
It’s Official: The Rotation of Earth’s Inner Core Really Is Slowing Down
06/14/2024 12:23:25 PM PDT · by Red Badger · 49 replies
Science Alert ^ | June 14, 2024 | DAVID NIELD
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4244365/posts

[lurk]

It’s all because Whyte people live in homes with lawns and drive gas cars.

[TexasGator]

“Get your phases right, guys.”

They did.

[Bob434]

lol- probably- my oh my, where does the time go?

[SERKIT]

If we raise some taxes, and impose certain mandates, can this be stopped? There ought to be a law.

[algore]

This is Disturbing, but Global Climate Change is a far more pressing matter.

But I have just been told by my bankers that it is possible that the Core Rotation issue is actually caused by Climate Change so please donate to my new Institute for Core Rotation Studies.

P.S. please pm me for a bitcoin donation link if you are dizzy already

[Ronaldus Magnus III]

Sar Eckhardt, Stanley Tucci and company traveled to The Core (movie) and fixed everything. One of my favorite parts of the movie was the name of a new, indestructible element: unobtainium.

[Fungi]

Nonsense. Prove it.