The translational oscillation of the solid inner core is one of the Earth’s fundamental normal modes, which is also called Slichter mode. The normal mode should be split to form a triplet due to the Earth’s rotation and ellipticity. In this study, according to the splitting pattern of Slichter mode, an attempt has been made to detect the possibility of Slichter triplet’s existence by using the product spectra of the long-term continuous gravity measurements from the superconducting gravimeters (SG) at 6 glob- ally-distributed permanent stations in the Global Geodynamics Projects network. The results indicate that the background noise level of the global SG observations is 0.0158 nm s–2 and the magnitude threshold of any global harmonic signals, which may be detected by the global SG, is 0.0152 nm s–2 in the subtidal frequency band from 0.162 to 0.285 cph in which Slichter triplet may occur. it implies that the signatures, related to the triplet, may be identified in the global SG observations, if they exist. It is found that there is a group of global harmonic signatures with the periods of 5.310, 4.995 and 4.344 h emerging significantly from the background noise in the global SG observations. They are in good agreement with the splitting pattern of Slichter mode. It implies that this group of signatures may be related to the inner core translational oscillations. The associated density contrast across the inner core boundary may be deduced as between the values provided in the Earth models of the PREM and 1066 A.
We consider the characteristics of long-term changes in non-tidal gravity and their implication to the local perturbations in barometric pressure and water storage and to the local vertical crustal movement using the long-term continuous gravity observations from a superconducting gravimeter (SG) at Wu-han station,together with the co-site measurements from a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver and an absolute gravimeter FG5. The observation results indicate that there are obvious seasonal variations in the long-term gravity changes measured with the SG. About 70 percent of the whole sea-sonal changes come from the contribution of the local disturbances in air pressure and water storage,while over 95 percent of the annual changes are attributed to the loading effects of these environmental perturbations. Due to the absence of direct measurements of the local water storage,especially those of the underground water,the global assimilating models of land water LaD (Land Dynamics) and GLDAS (Global Land Data Assimilation System) cannot virtually describe the real hydrologic distur-bances around the station. The resulting gravity changes,which are simulated theoretically by means of convolution integration of the loading Green’s functions and water models LaD and GLDAS,show significantly time delay of about 55 days from those measured with the SG. Compared with the meas-urements of the absolute gravity with the FG5,the long-term drift rate of the SG is determined as about 17.13 nms-2/a. From the co-site GPS measurements,it is found that the local crust is slowly subsiding at a rate of 3.71±0.16 mm/a,and the related gravity variation is estimated as 13.88±0.22 nms-2/a. In other words,the ratio of the changes in gravity and altitude related to the local vertical crustal movement is about -37.41 nms-2/cm. It implies that a considerable mass adjustment may be associated with the local vertical crustal movement,and its dynamic mechanism should be investigated further.
