The Free Oscillations of an Anisotropic and Heterogeneous Earth

Generalized spherical harmonics are used to simplify the calculation of the perturbation matrix elements (coupling coefficients) for the free oscillations of an anisotropic and laterally heterogeneous earth. In the asymptotic limit of large angular order, the local frequency pertubration which depends on the azimuth and on the location of Earth's surface is defined, and the correspondence to surface waves is established.     

A Theory of Toroidal Core Oscillations of the Earth

A rotating incompressible fluid bounded by two concentric spherical rigid surfaces can exhibit purely toroidal free oscillations. The eigenfrequencies are fractions of the angular frequency of rotation. If the bounding surfaces are slightly ellipsoidal, secondary spheroidal fields become existent, and in general, a free mode splits into a doublet with one of which exists only when the inner bounding surface is present.
For the real earth, the compressibility of the outer core, the elasticity of the solid earth, and the self-gravitation of the entire earth modify the toroidal core oscillations. The present treatment gives explicitly the effects of these parameters on the eigenfrequencies.     

Asymptotic eigenfrequencies of the Earth's normal modes

We derive asymptotic formulae for the toroidal and spheroidal eigenfrequencies of a SNREI earth model with two discontinuities, by considering the constructive interference of propagating SH and P-SV body waves. For a model with a smooth solid inner core, fluid outer core and mantle, there are four SH and 10 P-SV ray parameters regimes, each of which must be examined separately. The asymptotic eigenfrequency equations in each of these regimes depend only on the intercept times of the propagating wave types and the reflection and transmission coefficients of the waves at the free surface and the two discontinuities. If the classical geometrical plane-wave reflection and transmission coefficients are used, the final eigenfrequency equations are all real. In general, the asymptotic eigenfrequencies agree extremely well with the exact numerical eigenfrequencies; to illustrate this, we present comparisons for a crustless version of earth model 1066A.