RUSSIAN JOURNAL OF EARTH SCIENCES VOL. 1, NO. 6, PAGES 477–484, doi:10.2205/1999ES000028, 1999

The model of free nutation and regularities of latitude variation process

Abstract

[1]  The migration of the rotation axis in the Earth body was proved by astronomers at the end of the last century proceeding from the results of observing the latitude changes (LC). The observations of this process in time are carried out by a network of observatories. A huge data array has been accumulated, and the main regularities of this process have been established, proceeding from the studies of S. Chandler (1891). The present-day state of the LC model explanations cannot be ranked as satisfactory. The present-day contradictions between the collected empirical data and the LC reconstruction in terms of a free LC nutation model are discussed and explained in this paper.

Received 15 November 1999; published 15 December 1999.

Keywords: model of free nutation, latitude variation process, migration of the rotation axis.