On the Nature of the Nonhydrostatic Quadrupole Excess Moment of the Earth

Abstract

I wish to discuss an effect that is caused by the secular decrease in the Earth's rotation. I shall show that this deceleration induces mass flows across level surfaces and that these flows redistribute temperature and density in the Earth and produce an excess equatorial bulge. This mechanism does not require large lower mantle viscosity, unlike mechanisms discussed by Munk and MacDonald (1960) and McKenzie (1966). Therefore it does not suffer from the difficulties pointed out by Goldreich and Toomre (1969).