DYNAMICS OF ANGULAR-MOMENTUM IN THE EARTHS 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 var iations 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 atmosphe ric and oceanic angular momentum. In this review, we present a simple account of the underlying dynamics and review the relevant observation s and their interpretation.