Earth’s core – the origin for many discoveries

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/strange-little-magnetic-waves-discovered-at-
earth-s-core/ar-AAVpMwb

Little Magnetic Waves were Discovered

At the Earth's Core Small and strange magnetic waves with each oscillation working on a
7year circle have been discovered.

Earth's magnetic field

The earth’s magnetic field is generated usually generated by the electric currents which are
usually generated by the movement of molten iron deep in the Earth’s core.

Barrier for the earth

This magnetic field acts as a barrier protecting the earth from harmful particles which come
from sun by extending far into the space.

Absence of magnetic field

In the absence of the magnetic field, the solar radiation which would come from the sun
would strike the earth’s atmosphere leaving it a barren land without life just like the other
neighbor Mars.

Magnetic field is dynamic

The earth’s magnetic field is dynamic and it waxes and wanes over long, geological
timescales. But researchers have now found smaller oscillations right at the planet's core.
Nicholas Gillet, from the Grenoble Alpes University in France, and colleagues examined 20
years' worth of data looking at fluctuations in the magnetic field. Satellites that have
continuously monitored the geomagnetic field allowed them to look for tiny—or interannual—
changes that have previously been undetected. Their findings are published in PNAS.
"We try to understand the physics that is responsible for the observed evolution of the
magnetic field of our planet," Gillet told Newsweek. "It evolves over all time-scales, and the
longer periods show the strongest changes. What we discuss here are tiny fluctuations.
"These interannual changes remained unexplained since their discovery in the late 1970s in
ground-based records. Understanding them opens a door on the field deep in the core,
which we cannot directly probe based on observations alone."
The team found that at Earth's core, there are small oscillations every seven years. These
waves would travel westwards at a speed of around 900 miles per hour.
"This partly came as a surprise," Gilet said. "Our community had detected interannual
magnetic oscillations for several years now, by analyzing satellite records. But the family of
waves that is responsible for the oscillation was believed to operate on much longer—
centennial to millennial—time-scales, for observable field variations. We have revisited their
physical characteristics, and now understand that they can live on interannual periods. This
gives a physical framework for the interannual oscillations that were before unexplained."
The discovery, researchers say, should provide a better understanding of the geomagnetic
signals at Earth's core, allowing a better idea of the physical characteristics of the core and
the magnetic field. It also knocks the idea there is a stratified layer at the top Earth's core.
"In the 1990's the possible existence of a hidden (stratified) ocean at the top of the core [was
proposed]," he said, adding that a stratified layer helps with some models of magnetic
fluctuations. "This scenario was put to the fore over the past decade, based on evidence
from the seismology and mineral physics communities—but these are currently debated.
"Our findings...mean that there is no need for a stratified layer at the top of the core to
understand observed field changes. There is still the possibility that a stratified fluid layer
exists, in which case the fluid motions would not be very sensitive to it."
Gilet said he now hopes to look for signatures of other waves in longer-term records. He also
wants to look more closely at the magnetic field within Earth's core, to study the relationship
between the waves and the electrical conductivity in the lowermost mantle, and to predict
interannual changes to the magnetic field.