Constraining the parameters of the Andrade rheological model in Earth’s mantle based on the Love numbers of the М<SUB>2</SUB> lunar semidiurnal tide

Abstract

For the first time we showed that the often-used approximation of the Andrade rheology with only one parameter is oversimplified and might lead to incorrect conclusions when studying the internal structure of the planets of the Solar System. Instead, we used an Andrade rheology with two empirical parameters: α and ζ. Earth’s viscoelastic Love numbers for the principal lunar semidiurnal tide M2 were computed for two viscosity profiles and for 16100 different combinations of α and ζ values. The comparison of the computed Love numbers with its measured values allowed us to constrain the set of values of both parameters that successfully describe the rheological properties of Earth’s mantle.