THE EARTH'S MAGNETIC FIELD AND THE WORLD OCEAN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00039R000100230052-9
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• Original Classification: R
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 10, 2012
• Sequence Number: 52
• Publication Date: March 17, 1952
• Content Type: REPORT

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Academician V. V. Shuleykin (Maritime Hydrophysical Institute,
Acad Sci USSR.
Doklady Akademii Nauk SSSR, Volume 76, No. 1, pages 7'.60.
Moscow- Leningrad: 1 January 19510
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THE EAI~I'H' S MAGNE 'IC N'TE D -AND THE WORLD OCEAN
Academician V. V. Shuleykin
/ote: The following report appeared in the regular "Geophysics section
of the thrice-monthly journal Doklady Akademii Nauk SSSR, Volume 76, No. 1
(l January 19,1), pages 57-.60j
The high development of present-day technics of magnetic and electrical
measurements is in direct contradiction to the level of existing theories of the
Earth's magnetic and electrical field.
In particular, we completely do not understand: the deviation of the Earth's
magnetic axis from its axis of rotation and the continuous variation of the
elements of the geomagnetic field before our eyes. On the one hand, the non..
coincidence of the axes is no way consistent with natural tendencies to treat
the magnetic field as a consequence of the planet's rotation. On the other hand
s
no geological processes at all in the Earths s bowls can proceed with the;. speed
with which the elements of the geomagnetic field vary.'
In a glance at the picture of the elements of this field. it is clear' evident
that there exists some connection between them and the outlines of the coast
line which separates the continents from the World ocean. In this case it is
impossible to see chance coincidence. But it is impossible here to agree also
with the usual treatment of the problem: the depths of the ocean are so small
in comparison with the Earth's radius that it is impossible to connect the out-
line of the continents with the outlines of some tremendous inhomogeneous
medium of ferromagnetic masses in the plenet's bowls, It is perfectly obvious
how strong the desire would be to establish such connections.
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In the present article we shall attempt to approach the problems touched
upon from an entirely different point of view, without pretending to construct
a quantitative theory, but only noting a way to such a construction. We shall
try to find possible causes of: a) the deviation of the Earths magnetic axis
from the axis of rotation; b) the extremely rapid (on a historical scale) varia-
tion of the elements of the geomagnetic field; and c) the striking agreement
between the outline of the shoreline of continents and the outlines of isolines
on maps showing the elements of the magnetic field.
The first encounter with these attempts resulted in the discovery of elect-
rical currents in the sea, which discovery was made in 1435 by A. T. Mironov
(1). Unfortunately, inspite of the long period of time that has elapsed since
that time, the density of these currents has been measured only at three points
of the World ocean and only at the very surface layer of the waters. There it
turned out to be of the order of 1 ampere per hectare of surface formed perpen-
dicular to the direction of the vector of electrical-.field strength in the sea
water. The density of these currents increases sharply at the time of magnetic
storms, in connection with those causes by which the latter are created. The
variations of the amplitude of oscillations and, apparently, of the averaged
ttbackground'~ occur in agreement with the variations of Solar activity. Mironov's
marine currents are undoubtedly related to terrestrial currents (telluric cur-
rents), which were observed long ago in the Earth's solid crust, but of an
entirely different order of strength because of the high electrical conductivity
of sea water.
It is essential to represent such a scheme: thanks to one or another cause
the Earth's basic magnetic field is created, the axis of which coincides wxactly
with the planets axis of rotation, the electrical currents in the waters of
the World ocean create a supplementary magnetic field which is superimposed
F
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upon the basic field; by this, first, the magnetic axis is displaced relative
to the axis of rotation and, secondly, there arise isolin es of the magnetic
elements such as are organically connected with the outlines of the shoreline
of continents, and, thirdly, conditions are created for the continuous variations
of the elements of the geomagnetic field.
The measurements made by L. A. Korneva (2) on models indicated that such a
scheme gives a better qualitative agreement with the true picture of the Earth's
magnetic field according to the first two of three enumerated criteria. The
third criterion (variations in time) of current was inaccessible to investiga-
tion in view of the absence of measurements of marine currents over the necessary
period of time in various regions of the oce.anc
It is still impossible to speak now of quantitative comparisons, in as much
as we do not know the distribution of density of the electrical currents in the
deep waters cf the ocean. However, on the basis of measurements carried out on
Kornevat s model, it is possible to doubt the sufficiency of the density of the
deep currents for obtaining the necessary additional magnetic field: apparently
the order of this current density is too small. Probably the electrical currents
in the sea create only a certain part of the supplementary magnetic field.
Therefore the necessity arises of finding the exciters of the missing (very
large) part of this supplementary field; moreover exciters which are connected
so closely with the distribution of the ocean and of the continents on the
planet,
The search for such exciters is facilitated thanks to the appearance of
certain native ~Pussian7 works in entirely different field of geophysics.
Namely, on the one hand, we (3) had observed that the thermal discrepancies
between ocean and continents extend far into the stratosphere. Throughout the
year the stratosphere over the ocean turns out to be colder than over the
_3
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continents (at the same latitudes). Thus there are created cyclonic motions
of the air in the stratosphere around the continents. The tremendous speeds
of these currents possess their greatest component directed parallel to the
coast line; that is, directed namely just as in Korneva's model.
On the other hand, a large group of Soviet physicists in recent years have
carried out remarkable studies on cosmic rays (survey report (Li.)) which clarify
in a perfectly new way the problem:concerning positive and negative charges in
the stratosphere.
Now, it is still impossible to give the number of results of comparison of
these two directions in the works: there is still no reliable data concerning
air flows above 20 km above sealevel and concerning the distribution of elect-
rical charges in corresponding layers of the atmosphere. Already, however,
we can now show how closely connected are all these phenomena with the Earth's
magnetic field. Namely
1. There is every reason to assume that the primary cosmic-ray particles
(i.e. protons) practically do not play a role below L. to 5 km above sealevel and
that their significance increases continuously from b to 20 km and higher.
(Note: It is perfectly certain that in these high layers there must exist,
together with the protons, also positive charges of a different origin: helium
ions (or' according to a less probable assumption of other investigators, cal-
cium ions), ejected from the sun, which cause the aurora polaris (northern
lights ) in the high latitudes and the illumination of the night sky in middle
and lower latitudes all the way down to the equator). On the basis of the
brilliant works of S. N. Vernov and others (5), we can judge the quantity of
protons stopped during flight in various layers of the stratosphere. Designating
by Z the height of an elementary layer dz and by N the number of protons causing
the shower in the course of 1 minute, we can, on the basis of the curve N f
given by the cited authors, find the quantity proportional to the quantity of
'ci
11
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protons stopped at the suitable corresponding height: namely the quantity
It is important to note that this quantity must be proportional to
the quantity of secondary, tertiary, etc positive and negative paEticles origin-
acing during collisions with the atoms of the gases in the stratosphere,
2. It is perfectly obvious that the electrical conductivity of the air and
turbulent agitation of the masses lead to equalization of the density of the
"proton gas" in the atmosphere. For qualitative considerations, however, we can
consider the steady-state density of the E'proton gas" also proportional to the
values ?' ( ' at the corresponding height z,
3.
Undoubtedly the "proton gas" is absorbed by the atmospheric currents
both in the zonal circulation around the earth and in that system, interesting
us now, which is generated by the thermal discrepancies between ocean and con-
tinents, On the basis of our investigations (3) we can determine the values
of the pressure gradients in this latter system. Knowing the values of gamma
n (circulation) of the atmosphere's pressure gradient in the "ocean-continent"
fields, we can determine the component velocity of the flows along the coast
line. Obviously this velocity will be proportional to the quantity / where
delta designates the density of the air at height z.
4. The convective electrical current at height z possesses the density i,
proportional to the density of the "proton gas" at this height and to the
velocity of the corresponding air flow. In other words, the density of the cone
vective electrical current at height z must be represented by the formula
= = /
T
TED
(1)
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computing the product standing in the right hand side of equation (1), after
below. We can, however, even now judge the variation of i with height z by
the coefficient k of proportionality at present cannot be determined even with
an accuracy up to an order, according to considerations which we will discuss
convective current i increases continuously in the limits from 6 to 20 km above
which represents this distribution i - 1(z). As we see, the density of the
Figure 1 shows the curve computed by us in accordance with the cited sources,
the coefficient k of proportionality.
field of the earth. Knowing the order of velocities of the atmospheric flows
of Korneva's experiments, by projecting all the elements investigated on to the
ocean's surface; we can conclude that each linear centi;neter is intersected by
a current of the order of 1/10 ampere, which creates the supplementary magnetic
6. The quantitative side of the phenomena is very complex. On the basis
or agreement of the outlines of the Earth's magnetic field with the outlines
of the continents' coast line; it clarifies also the deviation or deflection
of the magnetic axis,
5. The direction of the convective current in the investigated layers co
incides with that obtained by L. A. Korneva on models (2). Consequently,
presence of these currents qualitatively clarifies the cause of the convergence
sealevel: and must increase at . higher layers.
at the heights, we can compute the order of the quantity of positive charges
in a column with a base of 1 cm2; namely, the charges which are transmitted by
the ir7 flows and which thus create the convective current in the stratosphere.
Calculations lead to a number around 2.105 coulomblcm2. On the average at the
heights this amounts to 1 proton approximately per 10~~
of air,
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If the convective current creating the Earth's supplementary magnetic field
?r
were due exclusively to these primary cosmic-ray particles, then the charge of
the column resting on 1 cm2 would create in the lower layers of the atmosphere
an electrical field with a strength of the order of lob volts/cm, which ~. `a"a_
actuality does not exist and cannot exist.
7, Hence it follows that the real origin of convective electrical currents
stratosphere are considerably complicated. This is told in Figure i1.
in the
shown in the work of S. N. Vernov et alii (5).
Actually, then, during collision of primary protons with air molecules
there occur secondary and particles of higher order: protons, mesons, electrons,
and also photons. The quantity of occurring positive charges compares with
the quantity of occurring negative charges. Consequently, the impetuous origin
of particles of high order leads to a very sharp increase in the total number
of particles in comparison with the number of primary protons and at the same
time is reflected in noway at all in the strength of the earth's total elect-
rical field. Moreover, the behavior of positive and negative particles generated
by collisions is far from identical: the negative particles appear as secondary
cosmic rays, but the positive particles are mainly absorbed simply by atmospheric
flows as a certain admixture or impurity into the stratospherefs gases, and
take part in the general circulation of the air at corresponding heights.
Namely, in this way the convective electrical currents of the necessary density
can be created without causing an absurdly large electrical field intensity
in the atmosphere.
6. In conclusion it should be noted that similar convective electrical
currents must exist around the earth thanks to the presence of the atmosphere's
circulation. These currents create a magnetic field with an axis directed
zonal
exactly along the earthts axis of rotation. It is still too early to decide
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what is their role in the formation of the planet's entire basic magnetic field:
even now it is still completely impossible to pick out the complex picture of
the potential of the geomagnetic field, taking into account both the repuire-
ments dictated by the internal field and the complications which are introduced
thanks to the presence of the Earth's magnetic body in the field of electrical
currents. Obviously it would be very remarkable to reduce the origin of not
only the supplementary field but also the basic field of the Earth to general
related causes in each case. In the present state, however, the expounded
hypothesis inevitably will lead yet to some improvements of the mentioned posi-
tions, while colliding with unavoidable contradictions (as all works on the
theory of the Earth's magnetic and electrical field do).
Submitted 2 Nov 1950.
Literature Cited
A. T. Mironov. Zhurnal Geofiziki, Volume 6, Noo 5 (1936)
L. A. Korneva, Ibidem (Doklady Akademii Nauk SSSR), Volume 76No. 1 1951
V. V. Shuleykin. Ibidern (Doklady), Volume 71, No. 6 (1950)
D. V. Skobel'tysn. Vestnik Akademii Nauk SSSR, No. 4, 31 (1950)
S. N. Vernov, N. L. Grigorov, and A. N. Charakhch'yan. Izvestiye Akademii
Nauk SSSR, Seriya Fizicheskaya, Volume 114, No. 1, 51 (1950)
~igure_1 follows
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