Commission 19: Rotation of the Earth (Rotation De La Terre)

Extract

During the period, there have been several major events which have effected the scope and interest of Commission 19. The most significant of these has been the dissolution of the BIH and IPMS and their replacement by the International Earth Rotation Service (IERS). The correlation of higher frequency fluctuations in the Earth’s rotation rate with changes in the Earth’s Atmospheric Angular Momentum is also significant. Many investigators now seem to believe that the “decade variations„ in the Earth’s rotation rate are caused by torques between the core and mantle caused by the uneven motions at the core-mantle boundary. These events and discoveries have made this an exciting period. It seems that the future holds more in the way of discovery due to the utilization of the more accurate and precise Earth rotation data coming from the modern observing techniques.