HYDRODYNAMIC SPIRALITY IN GEODYNAMO MODELS

Abstract

Generation of geomagnetic field is related to dynamo processes in the earth’s liquid core. It is one of the basic problems of geophysics. The geomagnetic field can be generated by both large-scale and small-scale flows. The latter possibility is closely related to the α-effect concept of the theory of intermediate fields. The nature of the α-effect consists in the reflection symmetry distortion in a convective rotating body, as a result of which the number of rightward rotating whirls in the Northern Hemisphere, for example, is systematically greater than the number of left-ward rotating whirls.