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

Abstract

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.