Significant fast-paced transformations take place in the Earth's core

According to a study by DTU Space (Space Industry), the liquid portion of the Earth's core is surprisingly rapidly changing, which could affect the Earth's magnetic field.

Tinhrsted's very accurate methods of measuring magnetic Earth magnetic fields over the past nine years have helped Nils Olsen - senior scientist at DTU Space - and some other German scientists can map The transformation takes place at a remarkably fast rate in the core of the Earth. The results were published in Nature Geoscience.

Nils Olsen explains: 'The surprising thing is the rapid changes, most of them are unexpected, occurring in the Earth's magnetic field. This suggests that similar sudden changes occurring in the liquid metal environment deep within the Earth are the cause of the formation of Earth's magnetic field. '

Measurements with the Ørsted magnetometer provide the latest International Geomagnetic Reference Field - the IGRF2000 model.The graphics of the IGRF2000 model represent the overall strength of the magnetic field on the Earth's surface.The greenish black area indicates the magnetic field strength above the average, while the reddish yellow area indicates the magnetic field strength below the average.(Photo: Danish Meteorological Institute)

The core of the Earth consists of a solid inner core surrounded by an outer liquid core, about 3000 km deep from our feet. Both solid and liquid core layers contain mainly iron and nickel. It was the movement of the outer liquid layer of the Earth's core that created the magnetic field. The change in this movement causes a change in the earth's magnetic field. Since then scientists can use satellites to measure the Earth's magnetic field to detect what is happening inside the liquid core deep in the Earth's heart.

The DTU Space scientists and other research institutes are currently preparing to replace the Ørsted satellite with a European-produced product called Swarm. Swarm consists of 3 satellites responsible for measuring the Earth's magnetic field with a higher accuracy than Ørsted satellite.

Nils Olsen concludes: 'By combining Ørsted and Swarm magnetic field measurements, we hope to find out the cause of the fast motion that takes place in the Earth's core.'

Reference article:

Olsen et al. Rapidly changing flows in the Earth's core (Rapidly changing liquid flow in the Earth core). Nature Geoscience, 2008; 1 (6): 390 DOI: 10.1038 / ngeo203