The anisotropy of hexagonal close-packed iron under inner core conditions: the effect of light elements

In recent decades,global seismic observations have identified increasingly complex anisotropy of the Earth’s inner core.Numerous seismic studies have confirmed hemispherical variations in the inner core’s anisotropy.Here,based on ab initio molecular dynamics calculations,we report how the anisotropy of hexagonal close-packed(hcp)-iron,under inner core conditions,could be altered when alloyed with light elements.We find that light elements in binary allows with iron-hcp-Fe-X(X=C,O,Si,and S)-could have significant effects on density,sound velocities,and anisotropy,compared with the behavior of pure hcp-iron;the anisotropy of these binary alloys depends on combined effects of temperature and the particular alloying light element.Furthermore,the change in anisotropy strength with increasing temperature can be charted for each alloy.Alloying pure iron with some light elements such as C or O actually does not increase but decreases core anisotropy at high temperatures.But the light element S can significantly enhance the elastic anisotropy strength of hcp-Fe.

Notes on the variability of reflected inner core phases

Recent events beneath Central America have produced excellent sets of inner core reflection （PKiKP phase） at high frequency recorded by USArray ranging from 18° to 30°. However, the amplitude of this phase displays considerable scatter with a factor of six or more. Such scatter has been attributed to upper-mantle scattering and the Inner Core Boundary （ICB） in combination. Here, we show that neighboring events share upper-mantle scatterers beneath the receivers, and their ratio allows a clearer image of deep earth structure. Alter confirming some of the measured variation is indeed due to deep structure, we stacked nearby traces to reduce fine scale variations which are mostly due to shallow structure. Then, the remaining relatively large scale variation pattern of PKiKP phase is caused by the inner core boundary, as demonstrated by numerical experiments. After migration of data to the 1CB, we observe a consistent image. We find such a pattern can be explained by a patch of mushy material of a few kilometers high where the material changes gradually from that of the outer core to that of the inner core.

PRELIMINARY RESEARCH ON THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE INNER CORE SIZE AND OUTER SIZE OF TROPICAL CYCLONES AND THEIR INTENSITY

Based on the Regional Spectral Model(RSM) re-analysis data from Japan Meteorological Agency(JMA) with a horizontal resolution of 20 km and a time interval of 6 h,this study works on the outer and inner core size of 2174 samples of tropical cyclones(TCs) occurring over the western North Pacific between 2001 and 2007.Some conclusions have been drawn on the basis of preliminary analysis of the TC inner core size and outer size and their relationship with TC intensity.First,the outer size increase(decrease) helps TCs intensify(weaken).Second,the enlargement(shrinking) of the inner core size helps TCs intensify(weaken) if TCs have a large inner core(with radius of maximum winds larger than 120 km).Contrarily,when TCs have small inner core(with radius of maximum winds smaller than 120 km),the enlargement(shrinking) of the inner core is good for weakening(intensifying) of TCs.

The effect of the differential rotation of the earth inner core on the free core nutation

Seismic observations shows that the inner core rotates faster than the mantle and the rotation axis of the inner core may not align with the rotation axis of the mantle. Free core nutation reflects core's information. We discuss the effect of the inner core's differential rotation on free core nutation from two aspects: rotation speed and deflection angle. Our result shows it is in accordance with the observations when the inner core's rotation speed doesn't exceed 10° faster than mantle's per year, and the deflection angle is less than 1°,if the rotation speed and the deflection angle are respectively considered separately.

Melting temperature of iron under the Earth’s inner core condition from deep machine learning

Constraining the melting temperature of iron under Earth’s inner core conditions is crucial for understanding core dynamics and planetary evolution.Here,we develop a deep potential(DP)model for iron that explicitly incorporates electronic entropy contributions governing thermodynamics under Earth’s core conditions.Extensive benchmarking demonstrates the DP’s high fidelity across relevant iron phases and extreme pressure and temperature conditions.Through thermodynamic integration and direct solid–liquid coexistence simulations,the DP predicts melting temperatures for iron at the inner core boundary,consistent with previous ab initio results.This resolves the previous discrepancy of iron’s melting temperature at ICB between the DP model and ab initio calculation and suggests the crucial contribution of electronic entropy.Our work provides insights into machine learning melting behavior of iron under core conditions and provides the basis for future development of binary or ternary DP models for iron and other elements in the core.

Constraining Shear Wave Velocity and Density Contrast at the Inner Core Boundary with PKiKP/P Amplitude Ratio

Shear velocity and density contrast across the inner core boundary are essential for stud- ying deep earth dynamics, geodynamo and geomagnetic evolution. In previous studies, amplitude ratio of PKiKP/PcP at short distances and PKiKP/P at larger distances are used to constrain the shear veloc- ity and density contrast, and shear velocity in the top inner core is found to be substantially smaller than the PREM prediction. Here we present a large dataset of PKiKP/P amplitude ratio measured on 420 seismic records at ILAR array in Alaska for the distance range of 800-90~, where the amplitude ra- tio is sensitive to shear velocity and density contrast. At high frequency （up to 6 Hz）, mantle attenuation is found to have substantial effects on PKiKP/P. After the attenuation effects are taken into account, we find that the density contrast is about 0.2-1.0 g/cm3, and shear velocity of inner core is 3.2-4.0 km/s, close to the PREM （Preliminary Reference Earth Model） prediction （0.6 g/cm3 and 3.5 kin/s, respec- tively）. The relatively high shear velocity in inner core does not require large quantities of defects or melts as proposed in previous studies.

Earth's Solid Inner Core: Seismic Implications of Freezing and Melting

Seismic P velocity structure is determined for the upper 500 km of the inner core and lowermost 200 km of the outer core from differential travel times and amplitude ratios. Results confirm the existence of a globally uniform F region of reduced P velocity gradient in the lowermost outer core, consistent with iron enrichment near the boundary of a solidifying inner core. P velocity of the inner core between the longitudes 45~E and 180~E （quasi-Eastern Hemisphere） is greater than or equal to that of an AK135-F reference model whereas that between 180~W and 45~E （quasi-Western Hemisphere） is less than that of the reference model Observation of this heterogeneity to a depth of 550 km below the inner core and the existence of transitions rather than sharp boundaries between quasi-hemispheres favor either no or very slow inner core super rotation or oscillations with respect to the mantle. Degree- one seismic heterogeneity may be best explained by active inner core freezing beneath the equatorial Indian Ocean dominating structure in the quasi-Eastern Hemisphere and inner core melting beneath equatorial Pacific dominating structure in the quasi-Western Hemisphere. Variations in waveforms also suRgest the existence of smaller-scale （1 to 100 km） heterogeneity.

Three-dimensional structure of the inner core of rice dwarf virus

Rice dwarf virus (RDV) is a double-shelled icosahedral virus. Using electron cryomicro-scopy and computer reconstruction techniques, we have determined a 3.3 nm resolution three-dimensional (3D) structure of the inner shell capsid without the outer shell and viral RNA. The results show that the inner shell is a thin, densely packed, smooth structure, which provides a scaffold for the full virus. A total of 120 copies of the major inner shell capsid protein P3 forms 60 dimers arranged in a T=1 icosahedral lattice. A close examination on the subunit packing of the T=1 inner core P3 with that of the T=13/ outer shell P8 indicated that P8 trimers connect with P3 through completely non-equivalent, yet highly specific, intermolecular interactions.

The Gravity Field Variation Caused by Inner Core Super Rotation

Due to the super rotation of the Earth＇s inner core, the tilted figure axis of the inner core would progress with respect to the mantle and thus cause the variation of the Earth＇s external gravity field. This paper improves the present model of the gravity field variation caused by the inner core super rotation. Under the assumption that the inner core is a stratifying ellipsoid whose density function is fitted out from PREM and the super rotation rate is 0.27-0.53°/yr, calculations show that the global temporal variations on the Earth＇s surface have a maximum value of about 0.79-1.54×10^3 pGal and a global average intensity of about 0.45-0.89×10^ 3 μGal in the whole year of 2007, which is beyond the accuracy of the present gravimetry and even the super conducting gravimeter data. However, both the gravity variations at Beijing and Wuhan vary like sine variables with maximal variations around 0.33 pGal and 0.29 pGal, respectively, in one cycle. Thus, continuous gravity measurements for one or two decades might be able to detect the differential motion of the inner core.

One-Dimensional Modeling of Multiple Scattering in the Upper Inner Core: Depth Extent of a Scattering Region in the Eastern Hemisphere

Attenuation of PKP（DF） in the Eastern Hemisphere is examined in terms of multiple scattering to simultaneously explain a puzzling relationship, a relatively fast velocity anomaly corre- sponding to strong attenuation. Reflectivity synthetics with one-dimensional random velocity fluctua- tions are compared with observations of PKP（DF）/PKP（Cdiff） amplitude ratios and differential travel times of PKP（Cdiff）-PKP（DF） for the equatorial paths. A Gaussian distribution of P-wave velocity fluctuations with the standard deviations of 5%, 6%, and 7% in the uppermost 200 km of the inner core is superimposed on the velocity structure that is slightly faster than the typical structure in the Eastern Hemisphere, which is likely to explain both the travel time and amplitude data as far as only the one-dimensional structure is considered. Further examinations of the statistic characteristic of scat- terer distribution in two and three-dimensions are required to obtain a realistic conclusion.

Research on the scatter features of the PKiKP/PcP amplitude ratio and the inner core boundary density contrasts beneath Northeast Asia

Quantifying the density contrasts of the Earth’s inner core boundary(ICB)is crucial to understand core-mantle coupling and the generation of the geodynamo.The PKiKP/PcP amplitude ratio is commonly used to obtain the density contrast at the ICB,but its applications are limited by scattered observed data.In this study,we selected the PKiKP and PcP phases reflected at the same region of inner-core and core-mantle boundaries beneath Northeast Asia from different earthquakes for the first time,and the observations suggested that the PKiKP/PcP amplitude ratio is widely scattered.We also compared the PKiKP and PcP amplitudes,which demonstrated that the scatter cannot be attributed only to ICB anomalies but might also arise from raypath differences and heterogeneities throughout the crust and mantle.By fitting the observed PKiKP/PcP amplitude ratio,we obtained a density contrast of approximately 0.65 g cm^(-3) and a compressional velocity contrast of approximately 0.87 km s^(-1) at the ICB beneath Northeast Asia.The larger contrast values indicate the possible occurrence of local crystallization occurring at the inner core surface.

THE COMPONENT OF 29.8 YEARS IN POLAR MOTION AND △ l. o.d. AND OSCILLATION OF EARTH'S INNER CORE

This paper deals with the components of pcriod of 29.8 yr in polar motion and △ I. o. d. The oscillation of inner core (OIC), as a most possible cause of them, is proposed. Parameters of oscillation are found and its effects on Earth’s mass center (EMC), distance of observatories to EMC, gravity and latitude are estimated.

Foreword: East-West Asymmetry of the Inner Core and Earth Rotational Dynamics

In the last several years since 2004 an important new finding has been unveiled by combined efforts due to Japanese （Satoru Tanaka）, French （Renaud Deguen, Y Albousierre and Marc Monnereau）, American and Chinese geophysicists （Xiaodong Song and Vernon F Cormier） who employed from unambi- guous detailed seismological evidence and explained by clear theoretical and sound laboratory arguments drawn from fluid dynamics that there exists a strong East-West hemi-spherical asymmetry on the inner- outer core boundary,

Detection of the translational oscillations of the Earth's solid inner core based on the international superconducting gravimeter observations

Based on the 21 series of the high precision tidal gravity observations recorded using superconducting gravimeters (SG) at 14 stations distributed globally (in to-tally about 86 years), the translational oscillations of the Earth抯 solid inner core (ESIC) is detected in this paper. All observations are divided into two groups with G-Ⅰ group (8 relatively longer observational series) and G-Ⅱ group (13 relatively shorter observational series). The detailed correc-tions to minute original observations for each station are carried out, the error data due to the earthquakes, power supply impulses and some perturbations as change in at-mospheric pressure and so on are carefully deleted for the first step, the gravity residuals are obtained after removing further synthetic tidal gravity signals. The Fast Fourier Transform analysis is carried out for each residual series, the estimations of the product spectral densities in the sub-tidal band are obtained by using a multi-station staking technique. The 8 common peaks are found after further removing the remaining frequency dependent pressure signals. The eigen-periods, quality factors and resonant strengths for these peaks are simulated. The numerical results show that the discrepancies of the eigenperiods for 3 of 8 peaks, compared to those of theoretical computation given by Smith, are only 0.4%, -0.4% and 1.0%. This coincidence signifies that the dynamical phenomenon of the Earths solid inner core can be detected by using high precision ground gravity observations. The reliability of the numerical computation is also checked, the spectral peak splitting phenomenon induced by Earths rotation and ellipticity is preliminary discussed in this paper.

Check of Earth's free oscillations excited by Sumatra-Andaman Large Earthquake and discussions on the anisotropy of inner core

Sumatra-Andaman Large Earthquake on Dec. 26,2004 generated not only the Indian Ocean Tsunami but also the Earth's free oscillations (EFO). The signals of Earth's free oscillations were perfectly re-corded by the superconducting gravimeter C0-32 at Wuhan station in China. After the pre-treatment and spectral analysis on the observational data from Wuhan station,we obtained more than ninety EFO modes including 42 fundamental modes,2 radial modes and 49 harmonic modes. On the basis of the discussions on some observed harmonic modes and abnormal splitting phenomena,we considered that the real rigidity might be lower than the theoretical prediction of PREM model in the inner core and however the anisotropy of compressive wave was brightly higher than the present estimations in the inner core. This suggested that the anisotropy of the inner core could be much more complicated than our present understanding,and there might be some new geophysical phenomena in the formation process of the inner core.

The Earth's inner core deviation to plate movement

Under the premise of the Earth’s layer structure and mass distribution, the solid inner core cannot be stable in the center of the sphere. Thus, the deviation of the inner core is towards the sphere’s center and the liquid outer core must have asymmetrical thermal convection. Based on the two suggestions, a concise and self-consistent global motion model can be built. The model consists of the following cycle: an asymmetrical thermal convection structure in the outer core led by the dislocation of the inner core→the plume is in special upwell position because of differential activation→the formation and split of lithosphere→the split plates drift and assemble in a new location, the mass of which causes the inner core to deviate towards this direction again→the new asymmetry is formed. As this circulation continues, a definite and periodical motion emerges/forms. Its nonlinear features result in the Earth’s motion with simple mechanisms but complex behavior. Ultraterrestrial events may disturb or

Sensitivity of Tropical Cyclone Intensification to Inner-Core Structure

In this study, the dependence of tropical cyclone （TC） development on the inner-core structure of the parent vortex is examined using a pair of idealized numerical simulations. It is found that the radial profile of inner-core relative vorticity may have a great impact on its subsequent development. For a system with a larger inner-core relative vorticity/inertial stability, the conversion ratio of the diabatic heating to kinetic energy is greater. Furthermore, the behavior of the convective vorticity eddies is likely modulated by the system-scale circulation. For a parent vortex with a relatively higher inner-core vorticity and larger negative radial vorticity gradient, convective eddy formation and radially inward propagation is promoted through vorticity segregation. This provides a greater potential for these small-scale convective cells to self-organize into a mesoscale inner-core structure in the TC. In turn, convectively induced diabatic heating that is close to the center, along with higher inertial stability, efficiently enhances system-scale secondary circulation. This study provides a solid basis for further research into how the initial structure of a TC influences storm dynamics and thermodynamics.

Inner core's seismic anisotropy is related to its rotation

The inner core has a differential rotation relative to the crust and mantle, the relative linear velocity between the solid inner core and the molten outer core is the biggest at the eguator and zero at pole area. As a result, the inner core grows faster at the equator than at the pole area. The gravitational force drives the material flow from the equator to the pole area and makes the inner core remain quasi-orbicular. The corresponding axial symmetric stress field makes c-axes of hexagonal close packed (hep) iron align with inner core’s rotation axis, resulting in observed seismic anisotropy.

Determination of the Effect of Initial Inner-Core Structure on Tropical Cyclone Intensification and Track on a Beta Plane

The sensitivity of TC intensification and track to the initial inner-core structure on a β plane is investigated using a numerical model. The results show that the vortex with large inner-core winds（CVEX-EXP） experiences an earlier intensification than that with small inner-core winds（CCAVE-EXP）, but they have nearly the same intensification rate after spin-up. In the early stage, the convective cells associated with surface heat flux are mainly confined within the inner-core region in CVEXEXP, whereas the vortex in CCAVE-EXP exhibits a considerably asymmetric structure with most of the convective vortices being initiated to the northeast in the outer-core region due to the β effect. The large inner-core inertial stability in CVEX-EXP can prompt a high efficiency in the conversion from convective heating to kinetic energy. In addition, much stronger straining deformation and PBL imbalance in the inner-core region outside the primary eyewall ensue during the initial development stage in CVEX-EXP than in CCAVE-EXP, which is conducive to the rapid axisymmetrization and early intensification in CVEX-EXP. The TC track in CVEX-EXP sustains a northwestward displacement throughout the integration, whereas the TC in CCAVE-EXP undergoes a northeastward recurvature when the asymmetric structure is dominant. Due to the enhanced asymmetric convection to the northeast of the TC center in CCAVE-EXP, a pair of secondary gyres embedded within the large-scale primary β gyres forms, which modulates the ventilation flow and thus steers the TC to move northeastward.