Earth’s Inner Core , May Be Reversing Its Rotation, Study Suggests.
According to a study published Jan.
23 in 'Nature Geoscience,' .
Our planet's inner core may be reversing after it temporarily stopped rotating.
Researchers think it could be part of a 70-year cycle, with the inner core changing direction every 35 years, that may affect Earth's magnetic field and the length of days.
After examining data, researchers think the inner core may have made another rotation reversal in the 1970s.
We see strong evidence that the inner core has been rotating faster than the surface, [but] by around 2009 it nearly stopped.
Now it is gradually mov[ing] in the opposite direction, Xiaodong Song, geophysicist, Peking University in Beijing, via 'Science News'.
However, 'Science News' reports that other researchers think the inner core may change its rotation every three years.
Others propose that the inner core doesn't move at all.
Overall, researchers say more studies are needed to figure out what's going on with Earth's inner core.
In all likelihood, it’s irrelevant to life on the surface, but we don’t actually know what’s happening.
It’s incumbent on us to figure it out, John Vidale, geophysicist, the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, via 'Science News'
