GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 29, NO. 18, 1854, doi:10.
1029/2001GL014543, 2002
Time-independent and time-dependent behaviour of high-latitude
flux bundles at the core-mantle boundary
Jeremy Bloxham
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Received 10 December 2001; revised 25 March 2002; accepted 29 March 2002; published 17 September 2002.
[1] Using a numerical dynamo model, we examine whether
quasi-stationary high latitude flux bundles which are
observed in the geomagnetic field over the last 300 years,
and possibly over much longer time periods, result from
thermal core-mantle interactions. We do so by imposing
lateral heat flux variations at the core-mantle boundary based
upon the dominant pattern of seismic heterogeneity in the
lowermost mantle. We find that the time-averaged field then
has a similar arrangement of flux bundles to that observed
during the last few hundred years. However, the field is
time-dependent, and this arrangement of flux bundles is
not a feature of the field at all times. INDEX TERMS:
1507 Geogmanetism and Paleomagnetism: Core processes (8115);
1510 Geogmanetism and Paleomagnetism: Dynamo theories; 1560
Geogmanetism and Paleomagnetism: Time variations—secular and
long term. Citation: Bloxham, J., Time-independent and time-
dependent behaviour of high-latitude flux bundles at the core-
mantle boundary, Geophys. Res. Lett., 29(18), 1854, doi:10.1029/
2001GL014543, 2002.
1. Introduction
[2] Maps of the magnetic field at the core-mantle boun-
dary over the last 300 years [Bloxham and Gubbins, 1985]
reveal the presence of high-latitude flux bundles [Gubbins
and Bloxham, 1987]. Figure 1a shows the average magnetic
field at the core-mantle boundary for the period 1840 – 1990
calculated from the ufm1 field model [Bloxham and Jack-
son, 1992]: concentrations of flux are located roughly
symmetrically about the geographical equator, with two
bundles in each hemisphere at approximately 60° north
and south of the equator.
[3] The stationarity of these persistent flux bundles is
unexpected, even on the timescale of a few hundred years.
The westward drift paradigm of the secular variation [Hal-
ley, 1692] predicts that they should drift through about 60°
of longitude during this 300 year period. Instead, their
longitude remains roughly constant, leading to the sugges-
tion that they are held in place by either topographic
[Gubbins and Richards, 1986] or thermal [Bloxham and
Gubbins, 1987] core-mantle interactions. The idea that
thermal core-mantle interactions might influence the geo-
dynamo is not new [Cox and Doell, 1964; Hide, 1967]; here
though we address the specific possibility of persistent flux
bundles arising through thermal core-mantle interactions.
[4] If the flux bundles are due to thermal core-mantle
interactions then, given that the lowermost mantle changes
on Ta timescale of at least order 107 years and probably
Copyright 2002 by the American Geophysical Union.
0094-8276/02/2001GL014543
1-1
much longer, we would expect these features to be persis-
tent on much longer timescales than 300 years.
[5] A number of studies have examined whether there is
evidence for flux bundles in paleomagnetic measurements
of the field. The evidence is mixed: of recent studies of the
time-averaged field over the last 5 Myr, Kelly and Gubbins
[1997] find flux bundles at approximately the same loca-
tions (in the northern hemisphere) as the historical record
(see Figure 1b), Johnson and Constable [1997] find evi-
dence of non-zonal structure, but not unambiguous evidence
of flux bundles, while Carlut and Courtillot [1998] fail to
find evidence of any non-zonal structure. Given the poor
distribution of measurements, persistent flux bundles cannot
be ruled out based on these studies [Constable et al., 2000].
Additional support for non-zonal structure is found on
intermediate timescales, namely from a 3000 year time
average of the field [Johnson and Constable, 1998].
[6] A recent series of models of the field at 100 year
intervals over the last 3000 years permits the persistence of
flux bundles to be studied more directly [Constable et al.,
2000]. Flux bundles are clearly seen at some points during
the interval but not at all times, with their number and
locations varying.
[7] Thus, the observational evidence may be summarized
as follows: throughout the historical record, i.e. on a time-
scale of a few hundred years (which is comparable to the
convective turnover timescale of the core), nearly stationary
flux bundles are clearly observed; on timescales of several
thousand years, such flux bundles are transient; and on
timescales of several million years, there is weak evidence
that the time-averaged field has flux concentrations at
roughly the same locations at which they are observed on
the several hundred year timescale. Can we reconcile these
observations?
[8] Here we examine this question using a numerical
dynamo model [Kuang and Bloxham, 1997, 1999] on which
we impose laterally-varying heat flux boundary conditions at
the core-mantle boundary consistent with the dominant Y22
pattern of seismic heterogeneity in the lowermost mantle
[Giardini et al., 1987]. We interpret seismic heterogeneity as
resulting from lateral variations in temperature in the low-
ermost mantle, so that seismically fast regions correspond to
cold regions, and thus to regions of higher heat flux from the
core. The peak amplitude of the imposed heat flux variations
is 37%. The amplitude of lateral variations in heat flux at the
core-mantle boundary is very poorly constrained; the figure
that we use here is not geophysically unreasonably large.
[9] The effects of laterally varying heat flux on numerical
dynamo models has been studied previously [Sarson et al.,
1997; Glatzmaier et al., 1999; Bloxham, 2000a, 2000b].
One finding that has emerged is that flux bundles may be
1-2 BLOXHAM: HIGH LATITUDE FLUX BUNDLES AT THE CMB
Figure 1. Time-averaged radial component of the mag-
netic field at the core-mantle boundary: (a) 1840 – 1990
[Bloxham and Jackson, 1992] and (b) 0 – 5 Ma [Kelly and
Gubbins, 1997]; and (c) derived from a 350,000 year
average of the numerical dynamo model.
intermittent [Sarson et al., 1997; Bloxham, 2000a], a find-
ing which is consistent with studies of locking of thermal
convection to variations in boundary heat flux [Zhang and
Gubbins, 1993, 1997]. Here we use a fully 3-dimensional
dynamo model (rather than a model with only one non-
axisymmetric mode [Sarson et al., 1997]) and integrate over
a long time period (the total model run is 24 dipole decay
times or nearly 500,000 years, though we exclude from this
study the initial 150,000 years which included a transitional
period between normal and reversed polarity) so that the
time-average can be considered with some confidence.
2. Results
2.1. Time-Independent Behaviour
[10] In Figure 1c, we show the magnetic field from the
numerical model averaged over 17.5 dipole decay times (or
roughly 350,000 years). The field is not axisymmetric and
has high-latitude flux bundles at similar locations to those
observed in the recent field and in the time-averaged
paleomagnetic field. We note that model calculations with-
out lateral variations in heat flux result in an axisymmetric
time-average on timescales as short as a few thousand years.
[11] The flux bundles lie beneath regions of high heat flux
from the core. The time-averaged flow shows that they are
associated with vortex columns in which the fluid rotates in
the prograde sense about the axis of the column. Thus the
flow associated with the columns is eastward equatorward of
the column and westward poleward of the axis.
[12] Maps of the fluid flow at the core surface over the last
150 years [Bloxham, 1992] show a different pattern. From
roughly 270° east longitude eastwards to 90° east longitude
(and in particular beneath the Atlantic and Africa) the flow is
predominantly westward near the equator, while in the
opposite hemisphere (beneath the Pacific) the flow is weak
(or in some models eastward). The pattern of flux bundles
inferred at the core surface over this time period is not as
simple as the m = 2 pattern imposed on the dynamo model:
over the last three hundred years, the two flux bundles are less
than 180° apart, with their centers closer to 180° longitude
than to 0° longitude. In other words, they are displaced
towards the Pacific hemisphere. We might then expect that
the eastward flow associated with the columns would be
strongest beneath the Pacific (where the columns are closer
together). Now suppose that this part of the flow induced by
the columns is superimposed on an otherwise uniform west-
ward drift at the core surface. Then, we might expect little or
no westward drift beneath the Pacific hemisphere (where the
eastward columnar flow might cancel the westward drift) and
westward drift beneath the opposite hemisphere (where the
eastward columnar flow might not be strong enough to cancel
the westward drift). To address this possibility further we
would need to consider patterns of lateral heat flux variation
with a more complicated structure than m = 2.
[13] Constable et al. [2000] noted an absence of flux
bundles in the central Pacific hemisphere (i.e. around 180°
longitude) over the last 3000 years. The results presented here
do show, on occasion, flux bundles around that longitude;
however, we noted in an earlier study [Bloxham, 2000a] in
which we looked at the effects of a more complicated pattern
of heat flux variation (derived from a seismic model of the
lowermost mantle Masters et al. [1996]) that the field within
the Pacific region was more nearly dipolar than elsewhere.
This suggests that the absence of flux bundles in the central
Pacific over the last 3000 years may be the result of terms
other than Y22 in the heat flux variation.
2.2. Time Dependent Behaviour
[14] The pattern of flux concentrations is not stationary.
In Figure 2 we show and describe the evolution of the
magnetic field at the CMB over a 4000 year interval from
the dynamo model. Two points are noteworthy. First,
during this time-interval there are several intervals in
which the field morphology is not the simple pattern seen
in the time-average. Instead, there are intervals with one
dominant flux concentration in each hemisphere, with the
concentration at 90° east sometimes dominant and at other
times the concentration at 270° east dominant. At other
times, the pattern is more complicated with several flux
concentrations evident in each hemisphere. Similar behav-
iour was described by Constable et al. [2000] over the
last 3000 years. Second, despite the time-dependent nature
 BLOXHAM: HIGH LATITUDE FLUX BUNDLES AT THE CMB 1-3

Figure 2. Evolution of the radial component of the magnetic field at the core-mantle boundary obtained from the dynamo
model over a 4000-year interval. At year 0, the field is in a configuration with two flux concentrations in each hemisphere,
though with much stronger flux concentrations at 90° to 135° east than at 270° east. Over the next 700 years, this
configuration evolves into one with a more even distribution of flux between the two patches in each hemisphere. Then,
over the following 400 years, the pattern evolves into one with several flux concentrations in each hemisphere; this
evolution is driven in part by interaction of the flux concentrations with drifting patches of reversed and normal flux near
the equator. The pattern then evolves by year 1700 back to one with two approximately equal flux concentrations in each
hemisphere, though that pattern then evolves over the next 800 years to one with much stronger flux concentrations at 270°
east than at 90° east, the mirror image of the starting configuration. The evolution of this pattern is similar to that of its
mirror image with several flux concentrations forming by year 2900. Finally, the pattern evolves through year 3300 to year
4000 to a pattern with two approximately equal flux concentrations in each hemisphere. The final plot shows the time-
average over this time interval: even over an interval as short as 4000 years in which there is considerable time-dependency
of the flow, the time average is similar to that shown in Figure 1c (a 350,000 year time-average).

of the pattern, the time-averaged field over this 4000-year
time-interval is similar to the time-average over the
350,000-year time-interval in Figure 1c. This suggests
that we may be able to obtain useful results by studying
the field morphology from dynamo models over intervals
of just a few thousand years (although a much longer
interval may be required for any transient behaviour from
the initial conditions to relax). We note that an analogous
argument has been made for the interpretation of paleo-
magnetic data [Carlut et al., 1999].
3. Discussion
[15] There are two main results of this study. First, by
imposing a Y22 pattern of heat flux variation at the core-
mantle boundary on a numerical dynamo model we are able
to obtain time-averaged field models which show a very
similar field morphology to the time-averaged field from
field models over the interval 1840 – 1990 and 0 – 5 Ma.
Second, the pattern is time-dependent so that the absence of
persistent flux concentrations in the field models of Con-
stable et al. [2000] cannot be taken as evidence against their
presence in the time-averaged field.
[16] Given that the flux bundles are not permanent, even
though they may be a feature of the time-averaged field, it is
perhaps fortunate that the last few hundred years, when we
have had direct observations of the field, has been a period
when these flux bundles are present in the field. In terms of
the morphology of the field at the core-mantle boundary, the
last few hundred years may thus provide a better indication
of the time-averaged field than would ordinarily have been
expected.
1-4 BLOXHAM: HIGH LATITUDE FLUX BUNDLES AT THE CMB
[17] The latitude at which these flux bundles occur has
been previously argued to result from the effects of the inner
core and its tangent cylinder (the cylinder coaxial with the
rotation axis and tangential to the inner core boundary)
[Gubbins and Bloxham, 1987], while the longitude at which
they occur has been argued to be the result of thermal core-
mantle interactions [Bloxham and Gubbins, 1987]. In this
study, by imposing a Y22 pattern of heat flux variation, we
have fixed both the latitude and longitude of the heat flux
variations. Further work is required to determine whether
the latitude of the flux bundles is sensitive to the latitude of
the heat flux variations or whether it is contolled entirely by
the inner core tangent cylinder; this could be addressed by
adding terms Y2l with l > 2 and even. On the other hand, and
very much more speculatively, do the rotationally domi-
nated dynamics of the core and the presence of the inner
core and its tangent cylinder influence the the pattern of
lateral variation in the lowermost mantle, so that the heat
flux anomalies necessarily occur at the correct latitude for
flux bundles to lie on the edge of the tangent cylinder?
[18] It is worth noting that had we interpreted seismi-
cally fast regions as corresponding instead to regions of
low heat flux then our maps of the field would simply
have been shifted by 90° in longitude. Then, the flux
bundles would have been in the wrong location with
respect to the observational record. This places a con-
straint on models of chemical heterogeneity of the lower-
most mantle [Karato and Karki, 2001]. Chemical
heterogeneity will contribute to heat flux variations as a
result of variations in thermal conductivity. Any model of
chemical heterogeneity (or more accurately of combined
chemical and thermal heterogeneity) of the lowermost
mantle must satisfy this new constraint that seismically
fast regions correspond to high heat flux.
[19] Finally, we must caution that, given the complex
behaviour of thermal core-mantle interactions reported
with 212-dimensional models[Sarson et al., 1997], addi-
tional investigation is now called for so that the depend-
ence of the results reported here on the amplitude of the
lateral variations in heat flux can be determined; modes in
addition to Y22 should also be considered.
[20] Acknowledgments. This work was supported by NSF Awards
EAR-0073988 and EAR-0112469.
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