The transition to Earth-like torsional oscillations in magnetoconvection simulations

•We perform 3-D magnetoconvection simulations to model the Earth's liquid outer core.•We search for torsional oscillations (TOs) in our models and analyse their properties.•At low Ekman number, TOs are excited by the Lorentz force at the tangent cylinder.•Core travel times are Earth-like (∼4 years) and become independent of Ekman number.•The excitation of TOs can be quasi-periodic in nature.

Evidence for torsional oscillations (TOs) operating within the Earth's fluid outer core has been found in the secular variation of the geomagnetic field. These waves arise via disturbances to the predominant (magnetostrophic) force balance believed to exist in the core. The coupling of the core and mantle allow TOs to affect the length-of-day of the Earth via angular momentum conservation.Encouraged by previous work, where we were able to observe TOs in geodynamo simulations, we perform 3-D magnetoconvection simulations in a spherical shell in order to reach more Earth-like parameter regimes that proved hitherto elusive.At large Ekman numbers we find that TOs can be present but are typically only a small fraction of the overall dynamics and are often driven by Reynolds forcing at various locations throughout the domain. However, as the Ekman number is reduced to more Earth-like values, TOs become more apparent and can make up the dominant portion of the short timescale flow. This coincides with a transition to regimes where excitation is found only at the tangent cylinder, is delivered by the Lorentz force and gives rise to a periodic Earth-like wave pattern, approximately operating on a 4 to 5 year timescale. The core travel times of our waves also become independent of rotation at low Ekman number with many converging to Earth-like values of around 4 years.