Molten iron river discovered speeding beneath Russia and Canada

originally posted by: Shadoefax

I'm having a little trouble with...

Deep below our planet’s surface a molten jet of iron nearly as hot as the surface of the sun is picking up speed.

The surface temperature of the sun is relatively cool compared to the sun's core temperature - 10,000°F vs 27,000,000°F.

10,000° is about double the boiling point of iron.

Exactly, technically there should be no molten iron.

interesting indeed


just saving the topic for future reference & more info,,, thanks




just thinking... the river or jet-stream of molten iron flowing at 40-45 km per year is not fast up here on the surface

but down there where the diameter of the solid core is only about as big as the North America hemisphere formed into a sphere...

that 40-45 km per year, relative to the core surface, is just fast as a jet plane or rocket powered car up here (a factor of 12-15X is my guess)

The interesting part i see is molten iron is non magnetic.
anyone that does blacksmithing knows that

I see the solid iron core as the source of the magnetic field.

originally posted by: pheonix358
Hot stuff.

Why do they call it a jet stream?

It is moving at 40-45Km per year.

I would not even call that a river.

More like a slow moving lake.

P

Yes this.

45km a year is .... a staggering 5 meters an hour. (snails move 10x faster!!!)

However, that IS A LOT of metal :p

a reply to: weirdguy

This proves sometime in antiquity, the north pole was in Antarctica

I'm not sure why, but this had never, not once, ever occurred to me...

I've no idea if that's good, or bad.

Eh, Happy Christmas everybody!!

originally posted by: kamatty
If they just found it now, how do they know its going 3 times faster then it was 17 years ago?

A jet stream has been discovered in the Earth's core, with a band of molten iron moving at an accelerating pace in the northern hemisphere. This is the first time the jet has been seen clearly, and provides a new view of our planet that will help us better understand its inner-workings.

Earth's core is largely studied through measurements of the planet's magnetic fields. It has a solid inner core at the centre and a liquid outer core both of which are mostly composed of iron. Previous research has shown the iron in the outer core is moving faster in the northern hemisphere than elsewhere on the planet – the cause of which was not really known.
...

www.ibtimes.co.uk...

The jet stream has been mapped in the past, although it is the first time the magnetic readings have been done clearly from space. Previous readings showed the jet stream moving slower, although it moves faster in the northern hemisphere for some reason, and it has picked up speed since the year 2000.

Somehow, some way they will say it's our fault.

Anthropomorphic Subterranean Molten Ferrum Migration

LOL

But a cool find none the less. I tend to think that the Earth acts as a giant engine in a way. The two cylinders in the pic made me chuckle a bit on that thought.

The jet stream in the atmosphere forms at the boundaries between Hadley convection cells:

en.wikipedia.org...

At the high pressures close to the earth's core, liquids that would normally boil off to become a gas, are kept compressed and remain a liquid. Even the preferred arrangements of solids like carbon atoms are compressed and become diamonds.

This animation of a magnetic pole flip shows lots of blobs merging and splitting apart:

www.youtube.com...

Could there be hundreds of these jet streams all over the Earth slowly separating and merging?

originally posted by: weirdguy
I wonder what would happen during a pole switch.
Would it destroy our digital age?

It's said that Santa lives on the north pole but there is no land mass, but the south pole does have land.
This proves sometime in antiquity, the north pole was in Antarctica.

Dont think so...more like North America was in the North

a reply to: ElectricUniverse

Excellent post. We need to discuss this type of activity more. I am convinced of a symbiotic relationship of the magnetic fields to a lot of things. The current status of the weakening magnetic fields shifting the poles is having a major impact, and with earthquakes that cause tsunamis or the resultant climate change this is being ignored as a source of the chaos in the earth's crust and climate.

originally posted by: Shadoefax

I'm having a little trouble with...

Deep below our planet’s surface a molten jet of iron nearly as hot as the surface of the sun is picking up speed.

The surface temperature of the sun is relatively cool compared to the sun's core temperature - 10,000°F vs 27,000,000°F.

10,000° is about double the boiling point of iron.

Not sure what temp would be boiling at the pressure exerted from above but the boiling point should be even higher for iron when trapped by those immense pressure.

I guess it is a cycle. Most likely related to solar maximum/minimum and increased volcanic activity in the next years.

The historical record of large volcanic eruptions from 1500 to 1980, as contained in two recent catalogs, is subjected to detailed time series analysis. Two weak, but probably statistically significant, periodicities of ~11 and ~80 years are detected. Both cycles appear to correlate with well-known cycles of solar activity; the phasing is such that the frequency of volcanic eruptions increases (decreases) slightly around the times of solar minimum (maximum). The weak quasi-biennial solar cycle is not obviously seen in the eruption data, nor are the two slow lunar tidal cycles of 8.85 and 18.6 years. Time series analysis of the volcanogenic acidities in a deep ice core from Greenland, covering the years 553-1972, reveals several very long periods ranging from ~80 to ~350 years and are similar to the very slow solar cycles previously detected in auroral and carbon 14 records. Solar flares are believed to cause changes in atmospheric circulation patterns that abruptly alter the earth's spin. The resulting jolt probably triggers small earthquakes which may temporarily relieve some of the stress in volcanic magma chambers, thereby weakening, postponing, or even aborting imminent large eruptions. In addition, decreased atmospheric precipitation around the years of solar maximum may cause a relative deficit of phreatomagmatic eruptions at those times.

src

Link to a PDF of the article on Nature.

Implications for core dynamics
Because the jet may ultimately result from an imbalance in fluid
transport across the tangent cylinder, changes in its magnitude
may reflect alterations in the dynamics on either, or both, sides
of the tangent cylinder, on decadal timescales. Because inertia and
viscosity are so small in the core, this would have to come about
either through changes in the internal structure of the magnetic
field or through changes in the fluid buoyancy distribution. Decadal
changes in composition or temperature driving changes in buoyancy
may be possible during an intense upwelling event. However,
changes in the interior magnetic field seem to be a more likely
explanation, as it is well known that the surface field, at least,
changes on such timescales. Indeed, a recent model has shown
that altering the l =3, 4 harmonics of a magnetic field (mimicking
changes over centennial timescales) can not only alter the torque
on the inner core, but cause significant change to the tangent
cylinder jet structure and direction. Higher harmonics are expected
to change faster, hence it is likely that decadal changes in the
structure of the jet c an b e driven through internal changes in the
magnetic field.

The strength and magnitude of the jet is sensitive to the sign and
magnitude of the force imbalance and not the forces themselves:
consequently subtle changes in the structure of the magnetic field
could be enough to cause large fluctuations in the jet and its
associated SV. If so, the present dynamics on the tangent cylinder
is likely to episodically repeat and reverse, as the internal field
changes over time. Evidence of such a westward–eastward wobble
of the Canadian flux lobe can be seen in the historical model
gufm1 (see Supplementary Movie 3), which shows eastward motion
during 1730–1800, and westward motion during 1900–1960; there
are also indications of east–west oscillations of the flux lobes on
longer (centennial) timescales. We suggest that we are currently
observing the accelerating phase of such a wobble. This adds to the
evidence for distinctive SV at high latitude, although the visibility
of the jet within the SV relies on there being an appropriate structure
of radial field to advect. Because the jet flow is dominantly in the
azimuthal direction, it would probably not b e affected by outer-core
stratification.

Changes in the magnitude of the jet will also have repercussions
for the dynamics deep within the core. Large-scale changes in
axisymmetric core-flow affect the net angular momentum of the
core, and therefore of the mantle; however, the jets we computed
have a signific ant non-axisymmetric component, and therefore do
not have a simple signature in change in length of day. Nevertheless,
the jet will now be supplying a westwardly directed force on t he inner
core due to electromagnetic coupling. Interestingly, the acceleration
of the jet that we find from 2004 onwards is coincident with
an abrupt alteration in the rotation direction of the inner core
from eastward to westward that has been inferred at about the
same time. Lastly, mounting evidence suggests that torsional
waves may be launched from the tangent cylinder, perhaps by
the dynamics associated with the cylindrical jet. An accelerating
phase of the jet is consistent with independent studies showing an
increase in torsional-wave magnitudes over t he past decade.

Giving me a headache at the moment, but worth reading I think.

a reply to: weirdguy

I wonder what would happen during a pole switch.

Your compass needle would point in the opposite direction. Ffrom now on, all new magma flows (till the next 'switch') would cool and solidify with their iron component polarized to the new north, I mean south, I mean opposite, I mean the other damn direction.

GPS would go tilt, you would be lost without it because you probably don't own a compass and couldn'tt use one if you did. Since we threw away all the paper road maps we used to keep in the trunk anyway, we'll all stay home.

Bombs couldn't land on their targets, aircraft couldn't navigate, world peace would break out, the skies would clear, it will be great.

a reply to: FlatBastard

Or the river Styx.

a reply to: Blaine91555

Reading it is tough as the calculation explanation would make a non math major wince, and rightly so I believe. I noticed the answer to a question posed here about the magnetic field was in there.

If the solid core of the earth has a liquid mostly iron flow around a solid core it would generate a magnetic field. Mars does not have this spinning matter around its core. The Earths mag field would be similar to the spinning generators that create electricity which is spinning copper, that have lots of electrons to share, by magnetized points. This creates an electromagnetic field and some Mars reclamation concepts include placing huge generators to simulate a magnetic field that would help hold in the atmosphere.

a reply to: intrptr

I have maps I will be using like Nat Geo's i have stashed that are old but still of use, and the "Rand McNally" for the US. But maps don't mean diddly if you can't interpret them. I recommend practicing those skills and North is always to the left of sunup and the right of sundown here.

a reply to: Justoneman

I have old maps, too. And a CB radio. Travel by night, navigate by Polaris.

originally posted by: ANNED
The interesting part i see is molten iron is non magnetic.
anyone that does blacksmithing knows that

I see the solid iron core as the source of the magnetic field.

The friction between between the different layers of Earth's crust, including the molten iron, against the solid iron core should be the cause of the magnetic field. Changes in the flow of any of these layers will have an effect on the magnetic field.

Not to mention that while the molten iron itself is non-magnetic, it does generate and electric current. And what do electric currents generate? Magnetic fields.

Even though it would be an indirect effect, the molten iron current does form, and affects the Earth's magnetic field.

Is there a reason that we cannot use this heat source to produce electricity to power everything, apart from oil companies that is.