Core processes articles from across Nature Portfolio

An axisymmetric, equatorial jet in Jupiter’s interior has a wavelike fluctuation with a 4-year period, revealing hidden aspects of the magnetic field within the metallic hydrogen region and constraining the dynamo that generates the magnetic field.

A static tilt of some 0.17° between the rotation axes of the solid inner core and the mantle is inferred from the observed approximate 8.5 year periodic inner core wobble in both polar motion and length-of-day variations of the Earth’s rotation.

Deeply subducted water may have enabled the exchange of hydrogen and silicon between the mantle and core, according to high-pressure and -temperature experiments.

An 80 thousand-year-long period of extreme non-geocentric dipole magnetic fields is recorded in Late Cambrian carbonate rocks of South China, suggesting that 495 million years ago Earth’s inner core had not grown large enough to stabilize the dynamo.

Daniela Navarro-Perez explains how nuclear magnetic resonance can be used to assess the capacity of natural reservoirs to store fluids.

High pressures may have enabled ferric iron-rich silicate melts to coexist with iron metal near the base of magma oceans early in the history of large rocky planets like Earth. This suggests a relatively oxygen-rich atmosphere during the late stages of core formation on these planets.

Seismic observations reveal that the Earth’s inner core oscillates with a period of approximately seven decades. The multidecadal periodicity coincides with that of several other geophysical observations, particularly the variations in the length of day and the Earth’s magnetic field, suggesting dynamic interactions between the major layers of the Earth.

The coda correlation wavefield technique provides a powerful tool for surveying planetary interiors using only data from a single station. Its application to the SEIS seismometer on the InSight lander, which has been providing unique data on the interior of Mars since 2018, is a promising example of what it can bring to planetary seismology studies.

Evaporative loss of sulfur from molten planetesimals can explain the sub-chondritic sulfur isotope composition of the bulk silicate mantle, suggesting an important role for planetesimal evaporation in establishing Earth’s volatile budget.