New estimation of triaxial three-layered Earth's inertia tensor and solutions of Earth rotation normal modes

Abstract

Until now, the calculation of the principal inertia moment of the triaxial three-layered Earth mainly adopts the scaling method. This method assumes that the corresponding principal inertia axes of the layers coincide each other, but this is not the case. In this paper, a rigorous tensor transformation rule is adopted to calculate the principal inertia moments (PIMs) of different layers. Appling the new estimated PIMs to the triaxial three-layered Earth rotation theory with considering various couplings, the numerical calculations show that the periods of the Chandler Wobble (CW), Free Core Nutation (FCN), Free Inner Core Nutation (FICN) and Inner Core Wobble (ICW) are respectively 433.0, 430.8, 943.9 and 2735.9 mean solar days, which are well comparable with the corresponding values accepted at present in geoscience community. Better estimates of the PIMs of different layers may provide better constrains on relevant physical parameters of the Earth's interior.

Keywords

• 3-D mantle density model
• Earth's inertia tensor
• Earth rotation
• Rotational normal modes