Constraints on the magnetic field within a stratified outer core

TL;DR

This paper investigates the magnetic field structure within a stably stratified layer of Earth's outer core using a simplified magnetostrophic model, proposing a method to construct Malkus states that match observational data and reveal a strong azimuthal toroidal component.

Contribution

It introduces a constructive method to generate Malkus states from poloidal fields and analyzes the resulting magnetic field configurations consistent with geomagnetic observations.

Findings

The Malkus state has a strong azimuthal toroidal field larger than the observed poloidal field.

Estimated root mean squared azimuthal toroidal field of 3 mT at 70 km depth.

Multiple solutions exist for the toroidal field, with the minimum energy solution having significant azimuthal component.

Abstract

Mounting evidence from both seismology and experiments on core composition suggests the existence of a layer of stably stratified fluid at the top of Earth's outer core. In this work we examine the structure of the geomagnetic field within such a layer, building on the important but little known work of Malkus (1979). We assume (i) an idealised magnetostrophic spherical model of the geodynamo neglecting inertia, viscosity and the solid inner core, and (ii) a strongly stratified layer of constant depth immediately below the outer boundary within which there is no spherically radial flow. Due to the restricted dynamics, Malkus showed that the geomagnetic field must obey a certain condition which is a more restrictive version of the condition of Taylor (1963). The nonlinear nature of these constraints makes finding a magnetic field that obeys them, here termed a Malkus state, a challenging task. Nevertheless, such Malkus states when constrained further by geomagnetic observations have the potential to probe the interior of the core. By focusing on a particular class of magnetic fields for which the Malkus constraints are linear, we describe a constructive method that turns any purely-poloidal field into an exact Malkus state by adding a suitable toroidal field. We consider poloidal fields following a prescribed smooth profile within the core that match observation-derived models of the magnetic field in either epoch 2015 or the 10000-yr time averaged field. Multiple possible solutions for the toroidal field exist, hence we determine the Malkus state of miumum toroidal energy and we find that it has a strong azimuthal toroidal field, larger than the observed poloidal component at the core-mantle boundary. For the 2015 field for a layer of depth 300 km, we estimate a root mean squared azimuthal toroidal field of 3 mT with a pointwise maximum of 8 mT occurring at a depth of about 70 km.