Abstract
Fluctuations in the angular momentum of the Earth's atmosphere correspond fairly well with equal and opposite fluctuations in the angular momentum of the Earth's ‘solid’ mantle. A decrease of 20% of the relative angular momentum of the atmosphere during the second half of May 1979 was accompanied by a speeding up of the rotation of the mantle causing the length of the day (l.o.d.) to decrease by 0.6 × 10−3 s. Although motions in the Earth's liquid core produce the more pronounced ‘decade’ variations in the l.o.d. there is no evidence that core motions produce l.o.d. variations on much shorter time-scales.
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Hide, R., Birch, N., Morrison, L. et al. Atmospheric angular momentum fluctuations and changes in the length of the day. Nature 286, 114–117 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1038/286114a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/286114a0
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