EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF SOLID CORE MOTION IN A ROTATING VESSEL FILLED WITH FLUID

Abstract

The Earth's magnetic field is generated by motions in the liquid part of the Earth's core. These motions can be related to thermal or gravity convection and the precession of the Earth's axial rotation. At present seismology and astrometry possess information about the mobility of the solid core in the surrounding external fluid core [1]. Model experiments, which are discussed in this work, can help to remove uncertainties in choosing the characteristic of currents in the fluid core and in estimating the stability of the location of the solid core. Experimental studies were carried out on an original laboratory installation created at the Institute of Geosphere Dynamics (Moscow) for investigating quasi-stationary currents in a rotating volume of fluid. The installation is equipped with a number of systems and devices that provide rotation of a vessel with fluid around a vertical or tilted axis with the given angular velocity for a long period of time.