Multifractal Complexity of the Chandler Wobble and Its Anomalous Disappearance (2015-2020)
First published: 2026
Brief summary
Analyzes polar motion data using multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis, characterizing the ~433-day Chandler wobble and documenting its unexplained temporary disappearance between 2015 and 2020.
Article
Multifractal Complexity of the Chandler Wobble and Its Anomalous Disappearance (2015-2020) is a preprint published by arXiv in 2026. It analyses polar motion data using multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis, characterizing the ~433-day Chandler wobble and documenting its unexplained temporary disappearance between 2015 and 2020.
The analysis focuses on ~433 days (Chandler wobble), amplitude 100-200 milliarcseconds, damping quality factor Q~50-100 (damping time ~30-70 yr). It also considers documents anomalous 2015-2020 disappearance. It also considers graphs of polar motion time series. This gives the cycle claim a specific numerical and evidential setting rather than presenting periodicity only as a visual impression.
The article reports the following result: The Chandler wobble is a free nutation of the rotation pole about the figure axis with a period of approximately 433 days and typical amplitudes of 100-200 milliarcseconds, first observed by Seth Carlo Chandler in 1891. The interpretation is strongest when measurement uncertainty, nonlinear dynamics, boundary conditions and alternative physical mechanisms are tested explicitly.
For cycles researchers, the article brings together chandler wobble, multifractal analysis, polar motion, 433-day cycle. It is relevant to physical and geophysical systems in which oscillation, reversal, recurrence and nonlinear dynamics must be distinguished from random variability.
Because it is a preprint, the work should be read alongside later peer-reviewed publications and independent replications. It remains useful because the proposed cycle, dataset and analytical approach are stated clearly enough to be scrutinised.
Source details and credits
- Source / publisher: arXiv
- Source type: Preprint
- URL type: PDF
- Credits: arXiv
- URL: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2605.29056