Changes in the Earth inertia tensor: the role of boundary conditions at the core-mantle interface

In the early seventies, a broad scientific debate began upon the nature of the conditions to be applied at the core‐mantle interface in order to study the static deformations of the Earth. This controversy, which first arose in the context of post‐seismic deformations, has also affected later investigations on inertia perturbations driven by surface or internal density contrasts. The aim of this communication is not to readdress the long‐standing question about the appropriate set of boundary conditions to be imposed at the core‐mantle boundary, but rather to show how the choice of these conditions may affect the calculation of inertia changes. When applied to glacially‐induced inertia perturbations, our results demonstrate that the pitfall of the core‐mantle boundary conditions has been acting for a long time after the scientific discussion mentioned above came to an end.