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Seismic Activity, Polar Tides and the Chandler Wobble

Abstract

Earthquakes may be triggered by changes in the elastic energy which are neither too fast (days) nor too slow (106 yr). Such a point of view provides a qualitative understanding of suggested correlations between polar motion and the annual seismic energy release. The Chandler wobble and earthquakes may have a common excitation source—the release of elastic energy stored in the Earth—and we show that a resonant coupling between seismic activity and polar motion has the right sign and strength to explain the pumping of the Chandler wobble as a consequence of in-phase release of elastic energy.

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PINES, D., SHAHAM, J. Seismic Activity, Polar Tides and the Chandler Wobble. Nature 245, 77–81 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1038/245077a0

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