DYNAMICS OF ANGULAR MOMENTUM IN THE EARTH'S CORE

We examine the dynamics of the angular momentum balance of the Earth's core. Not only is this balance of great importance to theories of the geodynamo process that is responsible for the generation of the Earth's magnetic field, but recent work has shown that angular momentum variations in the core have broad geophysical implications, ranging from studies of the travel times of seismic waves through the inner core to attempts to account for a possible phase discrepancy between atmospheric and oceanic angular momentum. In this review, we present a simple account of the underlying dynamics and review the relevant observations and their interpretation.