Earth's inner core periodically rotates at a different speed than the mantle, appearing to reverse.
Seismological studies of repeating earthquakes support the phenomenon that Earth's inner core rotates differentially relative to the mantle and can reverse its relative speed over decades.
Recent seismic waveform studies (such as Wang & Song, 2024) provide strong empirical support showing that the inner core's differential rotation is not constant in one direction, but experiences decadal oscillations including periods of super-rotation and subsequent sub-rotation (appearing to reverse direction relative to the surface/mantle).
Wang W, Vidale JE, Pang G, Koper KD, Wang R. Inner core backtracking by seismic waveform change reversals.. 2024. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07536-4
Wang and Song (2024) compile repeating earthquakes demonstrating that Earth's inner core super-rotated from 2003 to 2008 and then sub-rotated back through the same path.
See more details
Yi Yang, Xiaodong Song. Nature of inner-core temporal changes and a precise estimate of differential inner-core rotation rate. 2021. https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-9152
Wang et al. (2021) provide precise seismic evidence supporting the differential rotation of the inner core and its temporal fluctuations.
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