S. L. Shalimov

The ionospheric response to the acoustic signal from submarine earthquakes according to the GPS data

The ionospheric response to the transit of acoustic waves from a number of the strongest submarine earthquakes with magnitudes Mw ≥ 7.7, which occurred during the past few years, is analyzed. The amplitude of the response in the detrended TEC is studied as a function of the magnitude and vertical component of the surface deformation. It is shown that the geomagnetic field can significantly modulate the shape of the ionospheric response, depending on whether the perturbation propagates equatorward or polarward.

On the Precession Driven Geodynamo

Formation of flow structures in the Earth’s liquid core enclosed in a precessing and rotating shell (mantle) is examined within the hydrodynamic approach. The kinematics and energetics of the motions in the Earth’s core initiated by precession allow one to regard these motions as a possible geodynamo mechanism at an early evolutionary stage of the Earth (prior to the formation of the solid core). The influence of the precession driven geodynamo on the stability of the geomagnetic field is discussed.

Magnetorotational instability in the Earth’s core

The anisotropy of the convection in the Earth’s core can act as a cause of its nonsolid rotation. In the case of differential rotation, the magneto-rotational instability (the Velikhov instability) can arise in the liquid core. It is shown that the development of the magneto-rotational instability of the hydromagnetic flows in the liquid core of the Earth can generate variations in the geomagnetic field observed on the Earth’s surface.

On the minimal instability time of hydromagnetic flows in the Earth’s core

The dependence of the intensity of geomagnetic field on the intensity of thermal convection in the liquid core of the Earth, which has been empirically derived by a number of the authors from the results of numerical modeling of convective dynamo, is substantiated theoretically. This dependence is used for estimating the characteristic time scale of jerk evolution.

On the Structures Observed in Thin Rotating Layers of a Conductive Fluid and the Anomalies of the Geomagnetic Field

The results of the laboratory and numerical experiments in circular rotating trays with thin layers of a conductive fluid under the MHD generation of small-scale velocity fields are presented. The configurations of constant magnets for MHD generation were determined based on the numerical calculations with shallow water equations. Both the laboratory and numerical experiments with rotating trays demonstrate the emergence of nonaxisymmetric structures and large-scale near-circular vortices caused by the energy transfer from the system of the externally generated small-scale vortices to the large-scale velocity fields under the action of the Coriolis force. The near-circular vortex has areas with differential rotation when the angular velocity of rotation decreases with the radius. The single large-scale vortices and wide jet flows arise in the regimes of subrotation and superrotation relative to the external rotation depending on its angular velocity. The emergence of the flow structures with the azimuthal wave number m = 2 is demonstrated, and their probable relation to the anomalies of the geomagnetic field observed on the Earth’s surface is considered.

Mathematical Simulation of Convective Processes in the Liquid Core of the Earth and Implications for the Interpretation of Geomagnetic Field Variations in Polar Latitudes

The flow structure induced by thermal convection in a rotating spherical shell with viscous boundary conditions is considered under the assumption that the differential rotation of the core relative to the mantle is absent. The radial, azimuthal, and meridional components of the flow’s velocity and helicity are studied. With the magnetic field assumed to be frozen into a liquid (frozen-flux hypothesis), it is shown that the numerical results fit the observations of the geomagnetic field variations close to the pole.

On the role of magnetostrophic waves in geodynamo

It is shown that magnetostrophic waves which are generated in the equatorial plane of the Earth’s core due to the instability of the equatorial jet and which propagate almost transversely to the rotational axis off the tangent cylinder, have a negative helicity in the northern hemisphere and positive helicity in the southern hemisphere. When the wave trains propagate through the regions with a constant azimuthal magnetic field caused by the Ω-effect, this helicity distribution induces an electromotive force (emf) (due to the α-effect), which may lead to the maintenance of the initial dipole field by the scenario of the α-Ω dynamo.

On the GPS-based ionospheric perturbation after the Tohoku earthquake of March 11, 2011

Based on the data from the GPS receiving networks in Japan and America which have a high time resolution (2 min), two-dimensional (2D) distributions of the variations in the ionospheric total electron content (TEC) are constructed both close to and far from of the epicenter of the submarine earthquake of March 11, 2011 in Japan. Above the epicenter, a diverging multi-period disturbance appears after the main shock due to the acoustic gravity waves. Far from the epicenter, the wave trains associated with the tsunamigenic atmospheric internal gravity waves are revealed. These atmospheric waves significantly advance the arrival of the tsunami signal initially on the Hawaiian islands and then on the western coast of North America. The presence of the tsunami precursor in the form of atmospheric gravity waves is supported by the numerical calculations and by the analysis of the dispersion relation for the waves in the atmosphere. The detected ionospheric responses close and far from the epicenter can be used in the early tsunami warning systems.

On the frequency variations in the Earth’s rotation caused by unstable flows in the liquid core

The correlation between frequency variations in the Earth’s rotation and geomagnetic jerks is analyzed on the interval from 1900 to 2008. It is found that jerks precede changes in the rate of the Earth’s rotation frequency in the interval of periods ranging from 5 to 8 years. A mechanism of jerks generation is suggested in which the jerks are considered as the result of the excitation of magnetorotational instability in the Earth’s core with the subsequent generation of torsional oscillations causing a change in the Earth’s rotation frequency.

On the Ekman instability at the core–mantle boundary

It is shown that the instability of turbulent flows with Ekman velocity profiles in the vicinity of the core–mantle boundary leads to the formation of horizontally oriented circulating roll structures. The geophysical implications of the presence of such structures in the liquid core are explored, namely, the formation of the hot zones with enhanced conductivity and their influence on geomagnetic reversals.