Related papers: Reversals in nature and the nature of reversals
The irregular polarity reversals of the Earth's magnetic field have attracted much interest during the last decades. Despite the fact that recent numerical simulations of the geodynamo have shown nice polarity transitions, the very reason…
In a recent paper (Phys. Rev. Lett. 94 (2005), 184506; physics/0411050) it was shown that a simple mean-field dynamo model with a spherically symmetric helical turbulence parameter alpha can exhibit a number of features which are typical…
One of the most intriguing features of Earth's axial magnetic dipole field, well-known from the geological record, is its occasional and unpredictable reversal of polarity. Understanding the phenomenon is rendered very difficult by the…
Using a mean-field dynamo model with a spherically symmetric helical turbulence parameter alpha which is dynamically quenched and disturbed by additional noise, the basic features of geomagnetic polarity reversals are shown to be generic…
The variable magnetic field of the solar photosphere exhibits periodic reversals as a result of dynamo activity occurring within the solar interior. We decompose the surface field as observed by both the Wilcox Solar Observatory and the…
A geodynamo-model based on an \alpha-effect which has been computed under conditions suitable for the geodynamo is constructed. For a highly restricted class of radial \alpha-profiles the linear \alpha2-model exhibits oscillating solutions…
Statistical properties of the temporal distribution of polarity reversals of the geomagnetic field are commonly assumed to be a realization of a renewal Poisson process with a variable rate. However, it has been recently shown that the…
The geomagnetic field has undergone hundreds of polarity reversals over Earth's history, at a variable pace. In numerical models of Earth's core dynamics, reversals occur with increasing frequency when the convective forcing is increased…
We solve the equations of motion of a one-dimensional planar Heisenberg (or Vaks-Larkin) model consisting of a system of interacting macro-spins aligned along a ring. Each spin has unit length and is described by its angle with respect to…
Field reversals are the most spectacular changes in the geomagnetic field but remain little understood. Paleomagnetic data primarily constrain the reversal rate and provide few additional clues. Reversals and excursions are characterized by…
Convection driven geodynamo models in rotating spherical geometry have regimes in which reversals occur. However, reversing dynamo models are usually found in regimes where the kinetic and magnetic energy is comparable, so that inertia is…
We introduce a simple model for Earth's magnetic field reversals. The model consists in random nodes simulating vortices in the liquid part of the core which through a simple updating algorithm converge to a self organized critical state,…
The asymmetric time dependence and various statistical properties of polarity reversals of the Earth's magnetic field are utilized to infer some of the most essential parameters of the geodynamo, among them the effective (turbulent)…
Employing a simple ideal magnetohydrodynamic model in spherical geometry,we show that the presence of either rotation or finite magnetic helicity is sufficient to induce dynamical reversals of the magnetic dipole moment. The statistical…
The record of reversals of the geomagnetic field has played an integral role in the development of plate tectonic theory. Statistical analyses of the reversal record are aimed at detailing patterns and linking those patterns to core-mantle…
During a solar magnetic field reversal the magnetic dipole moment does not vanish, but migrates between poles, in contradiction to the predictions of mean-field dynamo theory. We try to explain this as a consequence of magnetic…
We present a study of several systems in which a large scale field is generated over a turbulent background. These large scale fields usually break a symmetry of the forcing by selecting a direction. Under certain conditions, the large…
The shape and the dynamics of reversals of the magnetic field in a turbulent dynamo experiment are investigated. We report the evolution of the dipolar and the quadrupolar parts of the magnetic field in the VKS experiment, and show that the…
The behaviour of the geomagnetic field characteristics (mean values of the paleointensity, amplitude of its variations and reversal frequency) during the last 170 million years was analyzed. It was found that the mean values of the…
In a first approximation, the Earth's interior has an isotropic structure with a spherical symmetry. Over the last decades the geophysical observations have revealed, at different spatial scales, the existence of several perturbations from…