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the excitation of the Chandler wobble
Author(s) -
Gross Richard S.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2000gl011450
Subject(s) - speed wobble , angular momentum , earth's rotation , polar motion , excited state , excitation , physics , rotation (mathematics) , momentum (technical analysis) , geology , atmosphere (unit) , geophysics , atmospheric sciences , geodesy , meteorology , atomic physics , classical mechanics , quantum mechanics , geometry , mathematics , finance , economics
The Chandler wobble is an excited resonance of the Earth's rotation having a period of about 14 months. Although it has been under investigation for more than a century, its excitation mechanism has remained elusive. Here, the angular momentum of the atmosphere computed from the products of a numerical weather prediction analysis system and the angular momentum of the oceans computed from a global oceanic general circulation model driven by observed surface winds and fluxes are used to show that during 1985.0–1996.0 the Chandler wobble was excited by a combination of atmospheric and oceanic processes, with the dominant excitation mechanism being ocean‐bottom pressure fluctuations.