L. A. Bauer, The physical decomposition of the Earth's permanent magnetic field, No. III, Journal of Geophysical Research, vol.8, issue.3, pp.97-129, 1903.
DOI : 10.1029/TE008i003p00097

D. Gubbins, Mechanism for geomagnetic polarity reversals, Nature, vol.326, issue.6109, pp.167-169, 1987.
DOI : 10.1038/326167a0

A. Jackson, A. R. Jonkers, and M. R. Walker, Four centuries of geomagnetic secular variation from historical records, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, vol.358, issue.1768, pp.957-990, 2000.
DOI : 10.1098/rsta.2000.0569

URL : http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.560.5046

D. Gubbins, A. Jones, and C. C. Finlay, Fall in Earth's Magnetic Field Is Erratic, Science, vol.312, issue.5775, pp.900-902, 2006.
DOI : 10.1126/science.1124855

N. Gillet, D. Jault, C. C. Finlay, and N. Olsen, Stochastic modeling of the Earth's magnetic field: Inversion for covariances over the observatory era, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, vol.39, issue.11, pp.766-786, 2013.
DOI : 10.1002/ggge.20041

H. K. Moffatt, Magnetic field generation in electrically conducting fluids, 1978.

P. H. Roberts and E. M. King, On the genesis of the Earth's magnetism, Reports on Progress in Physics, vol.76, issue.9, p.96801, 2013.
DOI : 10.1088/0034-4885/76/9/096801

M. Pozzo, C. J. Davies, D. Gubbins, and D. Alfé, Thermal and electrical conductivity of iron at Earth???s core conditions, Nature, vol.152, issue.7398, pp.355-358, 2012.
DOI : 10.1038/nature11031

C. J. Davies, M. Pozzo, D. Gubbins, and D. Alfé, Constraints from material properties on the dynamics and evolution of Earth???s core, Nature Geoscience, vol.88, issue.9, pp.678-687, 2015.
DOI : 10.1038/ngeo2492

P. Olson and H. Amit, Changes in earth???s dipole, Naturwissenschaften, vol.128, issue.2, pp.519-542, 2006.
DOI : 10.1007/s00114-006-0138-6

D. Gubbins, A formalism for the inversion of geomagnetic data for core motions with diffusion, Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors, vol.98, issue.3-4, pp.193-206, 1996.
DOI : 10.1016/S0031-9201(96)03187-1

A. Jackson, C. G. Constable, M. R. Walker, and R. L. Parker, Models of Earth's main magnetic field incorporating flux and radial vorticity constraints, Geophysical Journal International, vol.171, issue.1, pp.133-144, 2007.
DOI : 10.1111/j.1365-246X.2007.03526.x

P. Olson, P. Driscoll, and H. Amit, Dipole collapse and reversal precursors in a numerical dynamo, Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors, vol.173, issue.1-2, pp.121-140, 2009.
DOI : 10.1016/j.pepi.2008.11.010

C. C. Finlay, N. Olsen, and L. Tøffner-clausen, DTU candidate field models for IGRF-12 and the CHAOS-5 geomagnetic field model, Earth, Planets and Space, vol.181, issue.2, 2015.
DOI : 10.1186/s40623-015-0274-3

A. Pais and D. Jault, Quasi-geostrophic flows responsible for the secular variation of the Earth's magnetic field, Geophysical Journal International, vol.173, issue.2, pp.421-443, 2008.
DOI : 10.1111/j.1365-246X.2008.03741.x

A. Fournier, J. Aubert, and E. Thébault, Inference on core surface flow from observations and 3-D dynamo modelling, Geophysical Journal International, vol.186, issue.1, pp.118-136, 2011.
DOI : 10.1111/j.1365-246X.2011.05037.x

URL : https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01308359

N. Gillet, D. Jault, and C. C. Finlay, Planetary gyre and time-dependent midlatitude eddies at the Earth's core surface, J. Geophys. Res, vol.120, p.39914013, 2015.
DOI : 10.1002/2014jb011786

URL : http://arxiv.org/abs/1602.09094

J. Aubert, Flow throughout the Earth's core inverted from geomagnetic observations and numerical dynamo models, Geophysical Journal International, vol.192, issue.2, pp.537-556, 2013.
DOI : 10.1093/gji/ggs051

H. Amit and U. Christensen, Accounting for magnetic diffusion in core flow inversions from geomagnetic secular variation, Geophysical Journal International, vol.175, issue.3, pp.913-924, 2008.
DOI : 10.1111/j.1365-246X.2008.03948.x

URL : https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00364768

J. Aubert, Earth's core internal dynamics 1840-2010 imaged by inverse geodynamo modelling, Geophysical Journal International, vol.197, issue.3, pp.119-134, 2014.
DOI : 10.1093/gji/ggu064

URL : https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01308284/document

H. Amit and M. A. Pais, Differences between tangential geostrophy and columnar flow, Geophysical Journal International, vol.194, issue.1, pp.145-157, 2013.
DOI : 10.1093/gji/ggt077

M. A. Pais, A. L. Morozova, and N. Schaeffer, Variability modes in core flows inverted from geomagnetic field models, Geophysical Journal International, vol.200, issue.1, pp.402-420, 2015.
DOI : 10.1093/gji/ggu403

URL : https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01009677

C. Voorhies, Coupling an inviscid core to an electrically insulating mantle., Journal of geomagnetism and geoelectricity, vol.43, issue.2, pp.131-156, 1991.
DOI : 10.5636/jgg.43.131

H. Amit and P. Olson, Geomagnetic dipole tilt changes induced by core flow, Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors, vol.166, issue.3-4, pp.226-238, 2008.
DOI : 10.1016/j.pepi.2008.01.007

URL : https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00364776

C. C. Finlay, A. Jackson, N. Gillet, and N. Olsen, Core surface magnetic field evolution 2000-2010, Geophysical Journal International, vol.189, issue.2, pp.761-781, 2000.
DOI : 10.1111/j.1365-246X.2012.05395.x

C. C. Finlay, International geomagnetic reference field: the eleventh generation, Geophys. J. Int, vol.183, pp.1216-1230, 2010.
URL : https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00527822

U. R. Christensen and A. Tilgner, Power requirement of the geodynamo from ohmic losses in numerical and laboratory dynamos, Nature, vol.329, issue.6988, pp.169-171, 2004.
DOI : 10.1038/nature01560

J. Aubert, C. C. Finlay, and A. Fournier, Bottom-up control of geomagnetic secular variation by the Earth???s inner core, Nature, vol.502, issue.7470, pp.219-223, 2013.
DOI : 10.1111/j.1365-246X.2004.02421.x

H. Amit and P. Olson, A dynamo cascade interpretation of the geomagnetic dipole decrease, Geophysical Journal International, vol.181, pp.1411-1427, 2010.
DOI : 10.1111/j.1365-246X.2010.04596.x

URL : https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00502041

L. Huguet and H. Amit, Magnetic energy transfer at the top of the Earth???s core, Geophysical Journal International, vol.190, issue.2, pp.856-870, 2012.
DOI : 10.1111/j.1365-246X.2012.05542.x

L. Liu and P. Olson, Geomagnetic dipole moment collapse by convective mixing in the core, Geophysical Research Letters, vol.293, issue.10, p.10305, 2009.
DOI : 10.1029/2009GL038130

G. Helffrich and S. Kaneshima, Outer-core compositional stratification from observed core wave speed profiles, Nature, vol.19, issue.7325, pp.807-810, 2010.
DOI : 10.1038/nature09636

B. A. Buffett, Geomagnetic fluctuations reveal stable stratification at the top of the Earth???s core, Nature, vol.107, issue.7493, pp.484-487, 2014.
DOI : 10.1016/j.pepi.2007.11.001

S. Takehiro and J. Lister, Penetration of columnar convection into an outer stably stratified layer in rapidly rotating spherical fluid shells, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, vol.187, issue.3-4, pp.357-366, 2001.
DOI : 10.1016/S0012-821X(01)00283-7

U. R. Christensen, I. Wardinski, and V. Lesur, Timescales of geomagnetic secular acceleration in satellite field models and geodynamo models, Geophysical Journal International, vol.190, issue.1, pp.243-254, 2012.
DOI : 10.1111/j.1365-246X.2012.05508.x

N. Olsen, The Swarm Initial Field Model for the 2014 geomagnetic field, Geophysical Research Letters, vol.25, issue.16, pp.1092-1098, 2015.
DOI : 10.1029/98GL02211

URL : https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01405271

A. Fournier, An Introduction to Data Assimilation and Predictability in Geomagnetism, Space Science Reviews, vol.65, issue.3, pp.247-291, 2010.
DOI : 10.1007/s11214-010-9669-4

URL : https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00565056

J. Aubert and A. Fournier, Inferring internal properties of Earth's core dynamics and their evolution from surface observations and a numerical geodynamo model. Nonlin, Proc. Geophys, pp.657-674, 2011.

C. C. Acknowledgements, N.G. was partially supported by the French Centre National dEtudes Spatiales (CNES) for the study of Earth's core dynamics in the context of the Swarm mission of ESA, and ISTerre is part of Labex OSUG@2020 (ANR10 LABX56) Numerical computations were performed at S-CAPAD, IPGP, France, and using HPC resources from GENCI-IDRIS, France (grant 2015-042122) and also at the Froggy platform of the CIMENT infrastructure (https:// ciment.ujf-grenoble.fr) supported by the Rhône-Alpes region (GRANT CPER07_13 CIRA), the OSUG@2020 labex (reference ANR10 LABX56) and the Equip@Meso project (referenceANR-10-EQPX-29-01) We thank the International Space Science Institute for providing support for the workshops of international team no, acknowledges support by the Danish Council For Independent Research?Natural Sciences We thank R. Holme and two anonymous referees for helpful comments, 2011.