While we continue to live our lives, the length of the day on Earth is quietly being altered by a mysterious force that is the most powerful phenomenon on the planet. The changes are to be blamed on Earth’s inner core, which is going through a structural change, as discovered by scientists from the University of Southern California.
The team noticed changes at the planet’s centre and the findings shed light on the role that topographical activity plays in rotational changes in the inner core — including changes that have minutely altered the length of a day. “We didn’t set out to define the physical nature of the inner core. What we ended up discovering is evidence that the near surface of Earth’s inner core undergoes structural change,” John Vidale, principal investigator of the study said. Earth has four main layers: the solid inner core; the liquid outer core, which generates the magnetic field; the viscous mantle, with convection currents driving plate tectonics; and the thin, solid crust, where life exists and geological activity occurs.