28Jun2015>15:00 16:30PosterArea(Foyer)

SomeevidenceforaTurbulentDiffusionintheGeodynamofromgeomagneticglobal
modelsofthelastfewmillennia
E.Filippi1,A.DeSantis1,2,F.J.PavnCarrasco1,3,B.Duka4 ,K.Peqini4
1IstitutoNazionalediGeofisicaeVulcanologia(INGV),ViaVignaMurata,605,00143Roma,Italy.Email:angelo.desantis@ingv.it;enrico.filippi@gmail.com;javier.pavon@ingv.it.
2DipartimentodiIngegneriaeGeologia,UniversitdegliStudiG.DAnnunzio,Chieti,Italy.
3EuropeanSpaceAgency(ESA).TheLivingPlanetProgramme.
4DepartmentofPhysics,FacultyofNaturalSciences,UniversityofTirana,Tirana,Albania

I.Abstract
We study the temporal behavior of the recent Earths Magnetic Field in the context of turbulent dynamo theory, in order to verify whether the present geomagnetic field is generated by a turbulent
diffusivity regime or not. This regime would imply the increasing possibility for an imminent geomagnetic field reversal or excursion. In particular we analyze the dipolar geomagnetic field in the last few
millennia as synthesized by recent archeomagnetic global models (CALS, SHA.DIF.14k, pfm9k.1, etc.) and more recently by the IGRF, estimating the relaxation times when the field decays significantly. The
relaxation times are much faster than those typically obtained by a simple magnetic diffusion of the geodynamo. We interpret the present dipolar geomagnetic decaying trend as mainly due to a turbulent
diffusion of the geodynamo. To support our hypothesis, we recall the fundamentals of the turbulent dynamo theory to introduce the problem, describe the used models and then we propose some simple
numerical simulations. Finally we try to find any relation between our results and the theoretical predictions about the turbulence in the fluid core.

II.Introduction IV.Results
In the outer core the dynamics of the Earths magnetic field
B is determined by the wellknown magnetic induction
equation:
(1)

V is the velocity field of the fluid core, =1/(0 ) is called

magnetic diffusivity, is the electrical conductivity and
0 is the vacuum magnetic permeability.
2B is a diffusive term, namely a term that gradually extinguishes the field; (V B) is
the inductive termand may contribute in producing (and possibly intensifying) new field.
Fig. 1. Schematic representation of the
different current systems responsible for the
Earth's magnetic field
.
Fig. 2 Analysis of several Geomagnetic Axial dipoles vs t ; blue lines: g10 by sha.dif.14k; pink lines: strong decays of Fig.3. Simulation of the possible behaviour of geomagnetic
g10 by sha.dif.14k; green lines: g10 by cals10k; red lines: strong decays of g10 by cals10k; yellow lines: g10 by pfm9k.1; axial dipole during a 100000 years time interval. The red line
black lines: strong decays of g10 by pfm9k.1; purple line: g10 by IGRF12 describes a strong decay of g10 preceding a polarity reversal.
g10 coefficients by dominodynamo model

However in some particular turbulence situations, the inductive term may increase the
diffusion.
Turbulent situation:
l0 a L
t0 t1 T
(2)

(3)

B0 and V0 are the mean fields; v and b are the fluctuating fields; =< v b >; C= v b

homogeneous, isotropic and mirrorsymmetric turbulence =B+ Fig. 5. Clear decay of the g10 by SHA.DIF.14k. A shorttime
interval. STSHADIF14k =700300 years. R2= 0.997557
So Fig.4.Cleardecayoftheg10 bySHA.DIF.14k.Alongtime
interval.LTSHADIF14k =1200500years.R2=0.948367
.
(4)

with >0, that we call turbulent diffusivity.

III.GlobalModelAnalysisandMethodology Fig.6.Cleardecayoftheg10 byPFM9k.1.Alongtime

interva.LTPFM9k =2200900years.R2=0.999578 Fig.7.Cleardecayoftheg10 byPFM9k.1.Ashorttimeinterval.
l STPFM9k =3900800years.R2=0.999418

We analysed some models of the geomagnetic field: CALS10k.1b (Korte et al., 2011); SHA.DIF.14k
( nCarrasco et al., 2014); pfm9k.1 (Nilsson et al., 2015); IGRF12 (Thebault et al., 2015). All
models represent the magnetic field as a conservative field, because they are models of the global
magnetic field in sourcefree regions at the Earths surface and above. In other words they
represent they used the Spherical Harmonic expansion of the Geomagnetic Field, namely :

Fig.8.Cleardecayoftheg10 byCALS10k.Alongtime
Fig.9.Cleardecayoftheg10 byCALS10k.Ashorttimeinterval.
interval.LTCALS10k =25001000years.R2=0.996331
STCALS10k =2300900years.R2=0.993139

The models give the gauss coefficients gnm and hnm.

We studied the temporal behaviour of the g10 because this is the leading term of the Spherical
Harmonic expansion and it is important for defining the polarity of the magnetic field. We
estimated the relaxation times at epochs when the geomagnetic field was significantly decaying.
First, as a simple working hypothesis, we suppose that when the field is in this specific situation
only the diffusive term of magnetic induction equation will be present. So, we supposed for each i Fig. 10. g10
IGRF12=1700200
by
years.
IGRF12.
R2=
Fig.11.Strongdecayofg10 precedingapolarityreversal.g10 coefficientsby
dominodynamomodel.SDDOMINO=808years. R2=0.954115
0.992143
th temporal interval, at least longer than 100 years, characterised by a clear dipolar field decay, a
decay law of this type:

We estimated these relaxation times, by performing several fits over the logarithm of the square
of g10 coefficient at different values of t. We assumed that the relative errors on the i decrease
with the time and we supposed a 40% relative error for the earlier centuries and a 10% relative
error for the recent centuries. We did these assumptions, because the data synthesized by the
models improve their quality in time.
We did the same analysis also on the data synthesized by a simulation performed using a domino
dynamo model (Duka et al., 2015). In this simulation we selected a temporal interval,
characterised by a clear dipolar field decay, preceding a polarity reversal.
V.Conclusions
All models show that when the geomagnetic dipolar field decays it does with a rate faster than the typical diffusive rate so we can speculate that this is a general feature of the
geomagnetic field of the last millennia. Indeed the typical diffusive rate, corresponding to the most common accepted value of the of the outer core i.e. 2.76 105 S/m, are about
1000020000 years. This is due to the presence of an additional term in the diffusion part (see eq.(4)), so we can call this process a "turbulent diffusive" regime of the recent
geomagnetic field. This "turbulent diffusivity" is probably due to the turbulence effects in the core and accelerates the process of field decay (according to the (4)). This turbulent
diffusivity would explain why our relaxation times, obtained neglecting the inductive term in (1), are one order of magnitude smaller than the expected diffusive relaxation times for
the core. This turbulent diffusivity, in turn, could eventually bring the planetary magnetic field toward a field reversal in a sort of avalanche process, typical of a turbulent, and
occasionaly chaotic, regime. This is coherent with some other papers (see for example De Santis, 2007 or Hulot et al., 2002, which are based on fully different approaches) that
suggest that an imminent magnetic field reversal is possible (about 1000 or 2000 years from now). Also the article of Liu and Olson (2009) could support our hypothesis; in fact it
reminds the very fast decrease of the geomagnetic dipole moment in the last 160 years (at least one order of magnitude faster than the free decay rate) and emphasizes that the
process of advective mixing in the core can enhance the magnetic diffusion.
Furthermore, the simulation done using the dominodynamo model suggests that before a geomagnetic polarity reversal the dipolar geomagnetic field decays with a relaxation time
much faster than the typical diffusive relaxation times.
So we think that the turbulent diffusivity may be an important component of any possible magnetic field reversal. We think also that a better understanding of the turbulence in the
core can be useful to improve our knowledge about the generation, extinction and regeneration of the geomagnetic field .

References Acknowledgement
Enrico Filippi is grateful to two institutions. He is performing his
De Santis, A., How persistent is the present trend of the geomagnetic field to decay and, possibly, to reverse?, Phys. Earth Planet. Inter., 162, 217226,2007. Phd thesis at INGV (Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia),
Duka, B., Peqini, K., De Santis, A., nCarrasco, F.J., Using domino model to study the secular variation of the geomagnetic dipolar moment, Phys. Earth Planet. Inter., 242, 923, 2015. so he thanks this Institute because it allows him to use all its
Hulot, G., Eymin, C., Langlais B., Mandea, , M., Olsen, N., Smallscale structure of the geodynamo inferred from Oersted and Magsat satellite data,Nature, 416, 620623, 2002. services in order to develop his research project for the PhD
Korte, M., Constable, C., Donadini, F., Holme, R., Reconstructing the Holocene geomagnetic field, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 312, 497505, 2011. Programme in Geophysics, a Research Doctorate that belong to the
Liu, L., Olson, P., Geomagnetic dipole moment collapse by convective mixing in the core, Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L10305, doi:10.1029/2009GL038130,2009. Doctorate School in Scienze Matematiche, Fisiche ed
Nilsson, N., Holme, R., Korte, M., Suttie, N., Hill, M., Reconstructing Holocene geomagnetic field variation: new methods, models and implications, Geophys. J. Int, 198, 229248, 2014. Astronomiche, Universit degli Studi di Bologna. He also thanks
Universit degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza because part of this
nCarrasco, F.J., Osete, M.L., Torta, J.M., De Santis, A., A geomagnetic field model for the Holocene based on archaeomagnetic and lava flow data, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 388, 98109, 2014.
work was prepared during a stage at INGV funded by this
Thbault,E.etal.,InternationalGeomagneticReferenceField:the12thgeneration,Earth,PlanetsandSpace,doi:10.1186/s4062301502289,2015. University.
.