The iron present in the outer core directly affects the Earth’s magnetic field, offering protection from cosmic and solar radiation, which can make Earth an uninhabitable desert.
Our knowledge of its outer part Earth’s core and its role in our planet’s magnetic field are mostly based on theory. The scientists they have never directly observed heat convection and how it can change…until now. His Ying Zhou Virginia Tech offers evidence for the first time.
So he studied seismic waves from two different earthquakes in nearby locations 20 years apart. Thus, he detected changes taking place between the outer core and the mantle. The iron present in the outer core directly affects the Earth’s magnetic field, offering protection from cosmic and solar radiation, which they can make Earth an uninhabitable wasteland. So understanding these mechanisms and their evolution is critical.
The data showed so how the seismic waves traveled through the same area of ​​the outer core, one second faster in both earthquakes.
Something has changed in the path of the waves and they can travel faster now. The material that was there 20 years ago is gone. This is new material and is lighter. These light elements will move up and change the density of the area where they are.
The first earthquake occurred in the Kermadec Islands of the South Pacific Ocean in May 1997 and the second in September 2018, giving researchers a unique opportunity to see how the Earth’s core changes over time.
If you look at the north geomagnetic pole, it moves at a speed of 50 kilometers per year. He leaves Canada and goes to Siberia. The magnetic field is not the same every day. Changes. Since it changes, we assume that the heat convection in the outer part of the core also changes with time, but there was no evidence, we had never seen it. Now we can see it. If we can see it from seismic waves in the future, we will be able to install seismic stations and monitor the flow.
Zhou argues that the lighter elements such as hydrogen, carbon and oxygen have been released into the outer core since 1997 and correspond to a density decrease of 2-3%, as well as a convection speed of about 40 kilometers per hour.
The research was published in Nature Communications Earth & Environment.
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