Science
Scientists Baffled By Earth’s Mysterious 26-Second ‘Heartbeat’—Still No Clear Explanation
A steady ‘heartbeat’ has been observed by scientists in the Earth’s core.
Although it isn’t large enough to be felt as an earthquake, seismologists worldwide can detect a little, quantifiable “blip” on their radars. The pulse, which geologists refer to as a “microseism,” was initially seen emanating from the water and happens around every 26 seconds.
Although it has been subtly pulsing for decades, the cause is still unknown to scientists.
The pulse was initially recorded in the 1960s by researcher Jack Oliver, who was working at the Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory at the time.
He’d traced it back to somewhere ‘in the southern or equatorial Atlantic Ocean,’ when researching seismic activity. Oliver claimed that it was more intense during the summer months in the Northern Hemisphere (or the winter months in the Southern Hemisphere).
Remember, this was before the advent of sophisticated technological tools.
“Jack didn’t have the resources in 1962 that we had in 2005 — he didn’t have digital seismometers, he was dealing with paper records,” explained Mike Ritzwoller, a seismologist at the University of Colorado, whose team would come across the strange pulse some decades later.
The results were supplemented in 1980 by Gary Holcomb, a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, who found that the pulse is highest during storms.
Greg Bensen, a PHD student at the University of Colorado Boulder, was then examining seismic data in 2005 when his advisor entered and enquired about his work.
Ritzwoller recalled that Bensen pulled up some data and there was the repeating, far-away blip. “As soon as we saw this, [then-postdoctoral researcher Nikolai Shapiro] and I recognised that there was something weird, but we had no idea what it was,” Ritzwoller added.
The researchers looked at the blip from every angle and found that it originated in the Gulf of Guinea, which is located off the coast of West Africa.
Even now, nobody is aware of the reason behind the continuous beat, despite the fact that they published their findings in 2006. While some think it may be connected to volcanic activity, others think it has to do with waves hitting on the seafloor. However, scientists have found that our planet is constantly producing some kind of sound.
“Seismic noise basically exists because of the Sun,” said Ritzwoller. The sun heats Earth unevenly, warming the equator more than the poles. This imbalance drives winds, ocean currents and waves that can cause land vibrations when they crash into coastlines.
Scientists can use this ‘seismic noise’ to study the inside of Earth. “But the observation of [the pulse in 2005] caught us by surprise,” continued Ritzwoller.
“We’re still waiting for the fundamental explanation of the cause of this phenomenon.”
He concluded, “I think the point [of all this] is there are very interesting, fundamental phenomena in the earth that are known to exist out there and remain secret.” It may just be up to future generations to uncover it.
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