Yikes! The Earth's core has stopped turning ......

We're doomed! :

Earth's inner core may have stopped turning and could go into reverse, study suggests | CNN
https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/25/world/earth-core-turning-scli-scn-intl/index.html

The rotation of Earth’s inner core may have paused and it could even go into reverse, new research suggests.

The Earth is formed of the crust, the mantle and the inner and outer cores. The solid inner core is situated about 3,200 miles below the Earth’s crust and is separated from the semi-solid mantle by the liquid outer core, which allows the inner core to rotate at a different speed from the rotation of the Earth itself.

With a radius of almost 2,200 miles, Earth’s core is about the size of Mars. It consists mostly of iron and nickel, and contains about about one-third of Earth’s mass.

In research published in the journal Nature Geoscience on Monday, Yi Yang, associate research scientist at Peking University, and Xiaodong Song, Peking University chair professor, studied seismic waves from earthquakes that have passed through the Earth’s inner core along similar paths since the 1960s to infer how fast the inner core is spinning.

What they found was unexpected, they said. Since 2009, seismic records, which previously changed over time, showed little difference. This, they said, suggested that the inner core rotation had paused.

“We show surprising observations that indicate the inner core has nearly ceased its rotation in the recent decade and may be experiencing a turning-back,” they wrote in the study.

“When you look at the decade between 1980 and 1990 you see clear change but when you see 2010 to 2020 you don’t see much change,” added Song.

The spin of the inner core is driven by the magnetic field generated in the outer core and balanced by the gravitational effects of the mantle. Knowing how the inner core rotates could shed light on how these layers interact and other processes deep in the Earth.

However, the speed of this rotation, and whether it varies, is debated, said Hrvoje Tkalcic, a geophysicist at the Australian National University, who was not involved in the study,

“The inner core doesn’t come to a full stop,” he said. The study’s finding, he said, “means that the inner core is now more in sync with the rest of the planet than a decade ago when it was spinning a bit faster.”

“Nothing cataclysmic is happening,” he added.

Song and Yang argue that, based on their calculations, a small imbalance in the electromagnetic and gravitational forces could slow and even reverse the inner core’s rotation. They believe this is part of a seven-decade cycle, and that the turning point prior to the one they detected in their data around 2009/2010 occurred in the early 1970s.

Tkalcic, who is the author of “The Earth’s Inner Core: Revealed by Observational Seismology,” said the study’s “data analysis is sound.” However, the study’s findings “should be taken cautiously” as “more data and innovative methods are needed to shed light on this interesting problem.”

Song and Yang agreed that more research was needed.

Studying the Earth’s core
Tkalcic, who dedicates an entire chapter of his book to the inner core rotation, suggested the inner core’s cycle is every 20 to 30 years, rather than the 70 proposed in the latest study. He explained why such variations occur and why it was so difficult to understand what happens in the innermost reaches of the planet.

“The objects of our studies are buried thousands of kilometers beneath our feet,” he said.

“We use geophysical inference methods to infer the Earth’s internal properties, and caution must be exercised until multi-disciplinary findings confirm our hypotheses and conceptual frameworks,” he explained

“You can think of seismologists like medical doctors who study the internal organs of patients’ bodies using imperfect or limited equipment. So, despite progress, our image of the inner Earth is still blurry, and we are still in the discovery stage.”

At some point mankind is doomed and by our own hands. It's simply a question of when and how.

Most likely I'm wrong, but when I was a kid I heard that if Earth's rotation stopped even for a second (due to the speed of the rotation), all of us would very suddenly be catapulted beyond the atmospheric divide into space. Or maybe I'm thinking of the speed of Earth's orbit.

In any case, it would be an outstanding way to go - a hell of a lot better than a slow, painful ordeal in a hospital (imo).

What more could we ask for as Browns' fans?

I remember, perhaps two decades ago, seeing something about it having been determined that Earth's magnetic field flips - the north pole becoming the south and vice versa - roughly every 100,000 years. Evidence of this appears in the orientation of minerals in volcanic flows on the ocean floors. You can litearlly see ripples/lines where these flips occur. I also vaguely recall it being estimated that we were nearing being due for another flip.... perhaps we're fixin' to see that?

If you watch an airplane propeller with your naked eye, from beginning until it goes full speed, at one point it appears to stop and begin spinning the opposite direction, but that is only an airplane propeller.

Always thought that was a good movie.. Not sure if the premise is valid... But then again, I don't have any idea of such things......

The way I understand it is the earth reverses poles, and those poles shift not only both north and south but also shift the poles' location. I've always imagined this happening in a short time would be catastrophic and end civilization as we know it.

Well as Browns fans it will happen right as the Kickers foot hits the ball for the Super Bowl Winning FG for the Browns.


Wonder if this core speed has any effect on climate? Weakened magnetic fields could allow more cosmic rays to enter the atmosphere and stuff.

Oh, so NOW you're worried about the climate!?

That's the general hypothesis... ending all life on earth kinda thing. Something about all cellular structures and processes failing in a reversal.... but, I have to wonder then why that doesn't happen in space?
What I CAN see happening is a massive disruption in the food chain as everything from birds to bees to pretty much every migratory animal suddenly can't figure out where to go, leading to mass-extinction events.

It could trigger an ice age, climate disasters, global famine, or other things. It could also be a mild event like a brief tuning and adjustment before things return to somewhat normal, although different state.

I think you should be more worried about a tiger getting you while on the way to your car. More plausible imo, than a cell reversal leading to all humans kind of melting in place due to a pole shift which is kind of the gist I got from above.

A tiger can be anywhere.

" a boat is just a boat Louis, but a mystery box could be Anything, it could even be a boat." salute Ben Solak.

I wonder how much the act of their observation is contributing to their findings. I doubt it is a purely passive process. Society has gotten pretty used to not thinking about unintended consequences.

As far as poles flipping messing up migratory patterns, I'm pretty sure animals have become pretty good at figuring out how to adjust to interruptions in patterns with all the EMF we're throwing all over the place these days. Throw in things like habitat destruction and climate change, and I'm guessing flipping poles is pretty far down the list of potential issues with "routing." Strikes me as a Y2K, blown out of proportion "risk" as far as migration. Now, the potential loss of protection from cosmic radiation if the pole flipping is a slower process is worrisome.

Animals use several sources for migration, with the poles being pretty far down the list from what I have read. Seems the sun and stars rank up near the top, with natural landmarks being high as well.


Ahh, the days when Discovery Channel was about discovery.