A study monitors a rare phenomenon: the Earth's inner core reverses its rotation.. What is the effect of this?

Weather of Arabia - A recent study revealed that the inner core of the planet is currently changing the direction of its usual rotation with respect to the movement of the Earth's surface, in a phenomenon that may occur once every few decades.

The study , published in the scientific journal Nature Geoscience, indicated that the Earth's core (the inner core of the Earth) may have stopped rotating to start moving in the opposite direction, indicating that while this study may raise concern about the effects of this phenomenon on the planet. She emphasized that there is no need to worry, as this phenomenon may have occurred from long ago.

The mystery of Earth's solid inner core

In 1936, the Danish seismologist Inge Lehmann discovered that the liquid outer core of the Earth envelops a solid metal part, and this has puzzled scientists since then. It is strange that there is a solid iron ball floating in the middle of the earth, and scientists believe that the core crystallized and solidified from molten mineral at some point in the history of the Earth's inception, after the planet's interior had sufficiently cooled.

To study the inner core, it is not possible to take samples from the inner core directly, so the available information is based on accurate analyzes of seismic waves caused by earthquakes when they pass through the center of the planet.

But these waves also created a mystery. If this core is inert, then the near-identical seismic wave data should be unchanging, except in fact they do change over time!

One explanation was that the inner core is spinning, which deflects these waves, and evidence has also been found to suggest that the inner core's rotation can speed up and slow down.

Why does this oscillation occur?

One hypothesis is that there are two competing forces influencing the solid, spherical core: the Earth's magnetic field, resulting from swirling iron currents in the liquid outer core, which attracts the solid inner core, causing it to rotate.

This force is counteracted by the mantle, the layer above the outer core and below the Earth's crust, which reacts to the gravitational field and slows the core's rotation.

By studying seismic waves recorded from the 1960s to the present day, Dr. Song Weiyang, a seismologist at Peking University and co-author of the study, believes that this massive push and pull causes the inner core to rotate back and forth in a cycle of about 70 years.

Dr. Yang said that the rotation of the inner core slowed until it seemed that its rotation had stopped at some point between 2009 and 2011, and now it is gradually moving in the opposite direction, as the inner core has now begun to gradually rotate westward relative to the Earth's surface, and it is likely that the rotation will accelerate then It slows down again, coming to another stop in the year 2040 and reversing its rotation.

What's the effect?

According to the study, this rhythm, which lasts about 7 decades, could have a tangible effect on the deep parts of the Earth, but near the surface of the Earth, a slight disturbance will occur in the magnetic field of the planet, and a very slight change in the length of the day, which is known to increase and decrease. by a fraction of a millisecond every six years, at the same time ruling out that these changes would have a significant impact on life above Earth's surface.

Are the results of the study confirmed?

This study sparked multiple research trends, but its results are still uncertain, and it has sparked controversy in the scientific community.

The results of the study mean that the inner core is now more in sync with the rest of the planet than it was a decade ago when it was spinning steadily. Slightly faster".

He added, "Nothing catastrophic happens," and that the matter needs further study, and Song and Yang agreed on the need for more research.

"We use geophysical inference methods to infer internal characteristics of the Earth, and care must be taken so that interdisciplinary results confirm our hypotheses and conceptual frameworks," he explained.

He continued, "You can think of seismologists as doctors who study the internal organs of patients' bodies using imperfect or limited equipment. So, despite the progress, our picture of the inner Earth is still hazy, and we are still in the discovery phase."

It is noteworthy that the solid inner core of the Earth is similar in size to the planet Mars, and consists mostly of iron and nickel, and is located at a depth of 5 thousand kilometers below the surface of the earth, and it is estimated that the temperature in it is close to the temperature on the surface of the sun, which is about (5400 ° C).

Read also:

Why is the Earth's core so hot? How has it stayed hot so far?

The discovery of a mysterious new structure within the Earth's core

What would happen if the Earth stopped rotating? Can it really stop?