Time changes of geoid and inertia tensor for models of mantle flow
This project is aimed at better understanding the mantle processes that are most responsible for Cenocoic true polar wander. Here the predicted geoid change for the Harvard 3-D Earth model S12_WM13 by Su et al. (1994) is shown as an example. We believe that the sinking of the geoid centered at the northern tip of New Zealand that is predicted here is the feature most responsible for cenocoic polar wander towards Greenland -- polar motion tends to move regions of sinking geoid to the poles and regions of rising geoid towards the equator such as to maximize the moment of inertia tensor. Results have been presented at the AGU fall meeting 1997 and are included in an article for an AGU monograph.

This project is a collaboration with Richard J. O'Connell and Svetlana V. Panasyuk, more recently with Gabriele Marquart and Karen Niehuus.

• Marquart, G., B. Steinberger and K. Niehuus (2005). On the effect of a low viscosity asthenosphere on the temporal change of the geoid -- a challenge for future gravity missions, J. Geodyn., 39, 493-511, doi:10.1016/j.jog.2005.04.006 [pdf]

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