A Study of the Fluid Motion Occurring Near the Top of the Earth's Liquid Outer Core

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This project proposes to develop "second-generation" models of the fluid flow occurring near the top od the Earth's liquid outer core, using global geomagnetic data as the input observations. Customary assumptions, to be retained here, are that (i) the mantle is either an insulator, or a weak, radially symmetric conductor; (ii) the mantle is a spherical annulus; (iii) the core fluid is inviscid and incompressible. The new, ore realistic features to be included are the following: the core flow is unsteady, the core fluid is finitely conducting, and the input geomagnetic field model contains errors. The work will require a sequence of steps: completion of the basic theory, construction of an appropriate geomagnetic field model, implementation of the theory, and interpretation and inference from the resulting flow pattern.