Study says Earth's core has started spinning in the opposite direction: Why it matters

The Earth's solid core paused, and has started moving in the opposing direction, researchers say. Nature Geoscience, a scientific journal, reported that rotation of the Earth's core stopped abruptly, and then began to rotate in the opposite direction. Scientists say the back-and-forth of the Earth's core in relation to the earth's surface keeps happening.   

Why it matters? 

Researchers say there are correlations between the planet's crust, mantle, and core, and that the rotation of the core is tied to fluctuations in length of day and may result in minute variations in the precise amount of time it takes for Earth to rotate on its axis.

What is the Earth's core? 

The Earth is made of three layers -- crust, mantle and core. The innermost geologic storm called the inner core is a solid ball of radius 1,220 km, around 20% of the Earth's radius and 70% of the radius of the Moon. Scientists believe the Earth's core is composed of iron-nickel alloy and some other elements. The surface of the inner core is thought to have a temperature of roughly 5,700 K (5,430 °C; 9,800 °F), or about the same as the sun's surface.
 
A 1996 Nature study shows that seismic waves' travel time in the Earth's inner core have changed slightly but consistently over the previous three decades. The inner core's rotation, which is approximately 1° per year quicker than the crust's and mantle's daily rotation, provides the best explanation for this fluctuation.

A Peaking University team analysed earthquakes between 1995 and 2021, and the results showed the core may have stopped rotating around 2009 and may be in the process of reversing its direction of rotation.