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The Viscous and Ohmic Damping of the Earth's Free Core Nutation
Author(s) -
Triana Santiago Andrés,
Trinh Antony,
Rekier Jérémy,
Zhu Ping,
Dehant Véronique
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: solid earth
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.983
H-Index - 232
eISSN - 2169-9356
pISSN - 2169-9313
DOI - 10.1029/2020jb021042
Subject(s) - nutation , dissipation , core (optical fiber) , mechanics , outer core , boundary (topology) , inner core , physics , viscosity , geophysics , viscous liquid , boundary value problem , classical mechanics , mathematical analysis , mathematics , optics , thermodynamics , astronomy , quantum mechanics
The cause for the damping of the Earth's free core nutation (FCN) and the free inner core nutation eigenmodes has been a matter of debate since the earliest reliable estimations from nutation observations were made available. Numerical studies are difficult given the extreme values of some of the parameters associated with the Earth's fluid outer core, where important energy dissipation mechanisms can take place. We present a fully 3D numerical model for the FCN capable of describing accurately viscous and Ohmic dissipation processes taking place in the bulk of the fluid core as well as in the boundary layers. We find an asymptotic regime, appropriate for Earth's parameters, where viscous and Ohmic processes contribute to the total damping, with the dissipation taking place almost exclusively in the boundary layers. By matching the observed nutational damping, we infer an enhanced effective viscosity matching and validating methods from previous studies. We suggest that turbulence caused by the Earth's precession can be a source for the enhanced viscosity.