Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Israeli media: For the first time, Prime Minister Netanyahu is signaling that he wants to end the war on Gaza
Israeli Channel 12, citing an American source: We want to have entered a path toward captive release and a ceasefire before Netanyahu arrives in Washington
Lebanese Ministry of Health: One martyr and two injured in the Israeli airstrike that targeted a motorcycle in the town of Mahrouna
Al Mayadeen correspondent to Southern Lebanon: An Israeli drone strike targeted a vehicle between the towns of Jwayya and Mahrouna.
Al Mayadeen's correspondent in South Lebanon: One martyred in the Israeli drone strike on a car in the town of Kawnin
Al Mayadeen's correspondent in South Lebanon: Israeli drone targets a car in the town of Kawnin
Naeini: If our national interests are attacked again, our response this time will be stronger and more destructive
Naeini: The war has proven that the settlers are defenseless against Iranian missile and drone forces
Naeini: Trump lacks an understanding of the true strength of the Iranian people and is so deluded as to believe he can change the reality of Iran's victory
Naeini: The defeat led to Trump's confusion and loss of balance, which was reflected in his ill-considered statements

Earth’s inner core in 'reverse'

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: News websites
  • 24 Jan 2023 13:54
3 Min Read

NASA explains through nature that the earth's outer core also enables the inner core to spin independently.

  • x
  • Scientists have proposed that Earth’s solid inner core (yellow in this diagram) rotates faster than the rest of Earth. A new study suggests the core’s rotation has recently paused, and is reversing direction. (Getty Images)
    Scientists have proposed that Earth’s solid inner core (yellow in this diagram) rotates faster than the rest of Earth. A new study suggests the core’s rotation has recently paused and is reversing direction. (Getty Images)

The inner core of the Earth is located deep inside and extends for about 746 miles, according to NASA. It is primarily made of pure, solid iron. The inner core is thought to rotate, as evidenced by research, but a recent study contends that it may have "paused" or even reversed its spin.

Earth's outer core

Earth's magnetic field is produced by the liquid outer core that encircles the inner core. NASA claims that as the outer core's molten iron and nickel move, electrical currents are produced that result in a magnetic field. Nature explains that the outer core also enables the inner core to spin independently.

How is the core tracked?

Even though scientists cannot directly track the core, they can analyze seismic waves caused by earthquakes and Cold War-era nuclear weapon tests as they approach the core. That's what study co-authors Yi Yang and Xiaodong Song, both seismologists at Peking University in Beijing, did for their new study, which was published on Monday in the journal Nature Geoscience.

Related News

Dying satellites may contribute to climate change, ozone depletion

Astronomers discover universe’s brightest object

Yang and Song discovered that the inner core's rotation "paused" between 2009 and 2020, and may even be reversing "by a small amount," based on their analysis of seismic waves caused by similar earthquakes dating back to the 1960s.

Scientists warn against panic because this isn't the first time our inner core has stopped working. Instead, they believe the change is “associated with a gradual turning-back of the inner core as part of an approximately seven-decade oscillation.”

Read next: NASA discovers second Earth-sized planet in 'habitable zone'

What triggers such a rotation? 

Changes in the speed at which seismic waves travel through the inner core, according to seismologists, coincide "with changes in several other geophysical observations, especially the length of day and magnetic field," both of which are influenced by the inner core's movement, according to research.

While the changes are “valid,” what Yang and Song found may not be exactly what’s happening in the depths of our planet. A professor of earth sciences at the University of Southern California, John Vidale, that wasn’t involved in the study, noted “several competing ideas” about the Earth’s core in The Wall Street Journal.

This includes theories regarding the inner core reversing its rotation more frequently than the 70 years Yang and Song determined and that it stopped rotating in the early 2000s.  “No matter which model you like, there are some data that disagrees with it,” Vidale told The New York Times.

Vidale recently co-authored a study that showed the inner core changed its spin between 1969 and 1974, and that it seems to oscillate “a couple of kilometers every six years.”

Read next: The Earth is Fading

  • Earth
  • NASA

Most Read

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attends a protest following the US attacks on nuclear sites in Iran, in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, June 22, 2025. (AP)

Iran declares victory as ceasefire forces Israeli retreat

  • Politics
  • 24 Jun 2025
Israeli workers survey the site where a missile launched from Iran struck in Haifa on Sunday, June 22, 2025. (AP)

True Promise 3, wave 20: 40 missiles launched, Kheibar-Shekan in first

  • Politics
  • 22 Jun 2025
Iran launches strikes on Israeli targets, despite alleged ceasefire

Iran victorious as ceasefire with 'Israel' takes effect

  • Politics
  • 24 Jun 2025
Iranian worshippers carry their country's flags in a protest to condemn Israeli attacks on multiple cities across Iran, after the Friday prayers ceremony in Tehran, Iran, Friday, June 20, 2025. (AP)

Iran warns of NPT withdrawal, Strait of Hormuz closure after US attack

  • Politics
  • 22 Jun 2025

Coverage

All
The Ummah's Martyrs

Read Next

All
In this June, 12, 2021, file photo, former Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani sits in a meeting in Tehran, Iran.
Politics

Iran strategically foiled Israeli-US scheme, Advisor Shamkhani says

Sheikh Naim
MENA

Let no one think they can subjugate Hezbollah: Sheikh Qassem

Screengrab from a video published by the al-Qassam Brigades shows confrontations with the Israeli occupation forces in Gaza, undated (Al-Qassam Brigades Military Media)
Politics

Al-Qassam releases video of deadly ambush with Israeli forces in Gaza

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General, Rafael Grossi, attends an IAEA Board of Governors meeting in Vienna, Austria, Monday, June 23, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Iran bars IAEA chief Grossi from nuclear facility inspections

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS