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Science 14 November 1997:
Vol. 278. no. 5341, pp. 1284 - 1288
DOI: 10.1126/science.278.5341.1284
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Reports

Inner Core Rotation Rate from Small-Scale Heterogeneity and Time-Varying Travel Times

Kenneth C. Creager

The time it takes seismic waves to propagate from South Atlantic earthquakes through the inner core to station COL in Alaska has decreased systematically over the past 30 years. Travel times from three earthquakes in 1991 to an array of 37 seismometers in Alaska suggest that lateral gradients in seismic wavespeeds are steep in this part of the inner core. This combination of observations can be explained by postulating that the inner core is rotating 0.2° to 0.3° per year faster than the mantle.

Geophysics Program, Box 351650, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-1650, USA. E-mail: kcc{at}geophys.washington.edu

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Localized Temporal Change of the Earth's Inner Core Boundary.
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Inner Core Differential Motion Confirmed by Earthquake Waveform Doublets.
J. Zhang, X. Song, Y. Li, P. G. Richards, X. Sun, and F. Waldhauser (2005)
Science 309, 1357-1360
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Earth's Core and the Geodynamo.
B. A. Buffett (2000)
Science 288, 2007-2012
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Detecting Possible Rotation of Earth's Inner Core.
P. G. Richards, X. Song, A. Li;, and A. Souriau; (1998)
Science 282, 1227a-1227
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Seismic Evidence for an Inner Core Transition Zone.
X. Song and D. V. Helmberger (1998)
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