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n2doc

(47,953 posts)
Thu Jun 2, 2016, 03:11 PM Jun 2016

Earth’s Magnetic Field Is Weakening And We Don’t Know Why

New data released by the European Space Agency reveals that Earth’s magnetic poles are weakening much faster than was previously thought. The data was collected by the ESA’s Swarm satellites, a set of three orbital satellites designed to track the strength, direction and variations of the Earth’s geomagnetic field.

This recent set of measurements reveals that our geomagnetic field is weakening by around 5% a year, which is nearly ten times faster than previous estimates. According to the a press release by the ESA, the data shows that the field is weakening faster in some places than others:

It shows clearly that the field has weakened by about 3.5% at high latitudes over North America, while it has strengthened about 2% over Asia. The region where the field is at its weakest – the South Atlantic Anomaly – has moved steadily westward and weakened further by about 2%.

This new data might foreshadow a coming reversal of Earth’s magnetic poles, an event thought to occur around every 100,00 years, with the last reversal happening during the human Stone Age. While some Doomsday sayers believe that this magnetic reversal could mark the end of life on Earth, the consensus among geoscientists is that the worst effect could be the re-labeling all of Earth’s compasses.

more
http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2016/05/earths-magnetic-field-is-weakening-and-we-dont-know-why/

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Earth’s Magnetic Field Is Weakening And We Don’t Know Why (Original Post) n2doc Jun 2016 OP
End of all life or a relabeling of compasses... abelenkpe Jun 2016 #1
I am going to go with a relabeling of compasses since its happened a number of times cstanleytech Jun 2016 #4
it happens on the sun every 11-13 years and it does have a physical affect. virtualobserver Jun 2016 #26
Ya but we are talking about the earths pole switching not the suns. nt cstanleytech Jun 2016 #27
of course....a minor affect by comparison....but still a physical affect virtualobserver Jun 2016 #28
Well, maybe a few other minor things padfun Jun 2016 #16
Damn them doomies greiner3 Jun 2016 #31
awesome! now we'll find out how long it really takes to flip Viva_La_Revolution Jun 2016 #2
You post some of the most fascinating stories WhiteTara Jun 2016 #3
I concur. n2doc is a treasure. nt Gore1FL Jun 2016 #14
I got a question TexasProgresive Jun 2016 #5
Going to go out on a limb here and assume most life will be just fine since cstanleytech Jun 2016 #9
twasn't worried- just curious. TexasProgresive Jun 2016 #18
According to LiveScience 1,000 to 10,000 years. Jim__ Jun 2016 #11
Thanks for posting that. TexasProgresive Jun 2016 #20
Looks like the worst effects will mostly impact compass makers... BlancheSplanchnik Jun 2016 #29
Because all the wind farms... awoke_in_2003 Jun 2016 #6
Bullshit. I say its Mythgod's punishment for supporting gays. Hoppy Jun 2016 #7
I know the cause n2doc Jun 2016 #13
That's not funny. Some Radio Righties will be telling their listeners that. Enthusiast Jun 2016 #8
Hell, I think awoke_in_2003 Jun 2016 #10
Don't remember which yahoo, but Ineeda Jun 2016 #15
USA! USA! awoke_in_2003 Jun 2016 #17
It's true. This country is a mess. Enthusiast Jun 2016 #24
Foreign and domestic greiner3 Jun 2016 #32
Pretty sure they would be blaming Obama ThoughtCriminal Jun 2016 #25
No silly. It's the Rapture. BlancheSplanchnik Jun 2016 #30
K & R nt Jack Bone Jun 2016 #12
I've read that it get's weaker just before it flips Poles Ferd Berfel Jun 2016 #19
Some really confused birds, too. Warren DeMontague Jun 2016 #21
Godzilla just rolled-over in his sleep nikto Jun 2016 #22
I just love hard science, with all its diagrams ... nikto Jun 2016 #23

cstanleytech

(26,080 posts)
4. I am going to go with a relabeling of compasses since its happened a number of times
Thu Jun 2, 2016, 04:13 PM
Jun 2016

in the past and there isnt anything in the fossil record to suggest its caused any extinction level events on a global scale across multiple species.

 

virtualobserver

(8,760 posts)
26. it happens on the sun every 11-13 years and it does have a physical affect.
Thu Jun 2, 2016, 09:26 PM
Jun 2016

It affects sunspots and solar flares.

Instead of relabeling compasses, we could just switch the names of the poles.

padfun

(1,780 posts)
16. Well, maybe a few other minor things
Thu Jun 2, 2016, 05:49 PM
Jun 2016

but overall, it wont be much different than Y2K, or the March 1984 "great alignment", or any other doomsday even that seems to happen about every 20 years or so.

Edit: Oh, I almost forgot about Dec 21,2012. Is anyone left on earth after that?

WhiteTara

(29,676 posts)
3. You post some of the most fascinating stories
Thu Jun 2, 2016, 03:27 PM
Jun 2016

At first I imagined us zooming off into space like a balloon that is losing its air!

TexasProgresive

(12,148 posts)
5. I got a question
Thu Jun 2, 2016, 04:13 PM
Jun 2016

How long will it take for the flip. If there is a period of no magnetic field will we be vulnerable to radiation from space that is now directed around the earth by its mag fields?

How Does the Earth's Magnetic Field Protect Us From Space Radiation?

Dangerous particles don't hit the Earth's surface because they are forced by the magnetic field to move around the Earth. Particles do enter at the funnels over the poles or they gain entry far downstream from the Earth. The particles that enter downstream or at the magnetotail cause the auroral lights.

Other higher energy particle radiation that could endanger life on Earth is forced to drift around the Earth within two large donut-shaped regions called the radiation belts. Invisible magnetic fields are the reason that particle radiation moves in this way.
http://www.windows2universe.org/glossary/plasmaspheric_gain.html

cstanleytech

(26,080 posts)
9. Going to go out on a limb here and assume most life will be just fine since
Thu Jun 2, 2016, 05:14 PM
Jun 2016

as I pointed out its happened alot of other times in the earths past and yet there is no corresponding evidence in the fossil record to support it being the cause of massive die offs in the past.
If you want to worry about something though then worry about the effects of the pollution we humans pump out as that in the short term (short term being a geological age of the earth) probably poses more of a threat to the majority of advanced life forms on the planet than the magnetic field flipping.

Jim__

(14,045 posts)
11. According to LiveScience 1,000 to 10,000 years.
Thu Jun 2, 2016, 05:24 PM
Jun 2016

From LiveScience:

[center][/center]

...

Earth's magnetic field takes between 1,000 and 10,000 years to reverse, and in the process, it greatly diminishes before it re-aligns. "It's not a sudden flip, but a slow process, during which the field strength becomes weak, very probably the field becomes more complex and might show more than two poles for a while, and then builds up in strength and [aligns] in the opposite direction," said Monika Korte, the scientific director of the Niemegk Geomagnetic Observatory at GFZ Potsdam in Germany.

The scientists say it's the weak in-between phase that would be roughest on Earthlings.

According to John Tarduno, professor of geophysics at the University of Rochester, a strong magnetic field helps protect Earth from blasts of radiation from the sun. "Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) occasionally occur on the Sun, and sometimes hurtle directly toward Earth," Tarduno said. "Some of the particles associated with CMEs can be blocked by Earth's magnetic field. With a weak field, this shielding is less efficient."

The charged particles bombarding Earth's atmosphere during solar storms would punch holes in Earth's atmosphere, and this could hurt humans. "Ozone holes, like that over Antarctica (which today are due to an entirely different cause related to man) could form as solar particles interact with the atmosphere in a cascade of chemical reactions. These 'holes' would not be permanent, but might be present on one- to 10-year timescales — arguably important enough to be a concern in terms of skin cancer rates," Tarduno said.

more ...
 

awoke_in_2003

(34,582 posts)
10. Hell, I think
Thu Jun 2, 2016, 05:21 PM
Jun 2016

a representative from OK sad something almost as silly on the House floor. We are such a backwards ass country.

Ineeda

(3,626 posts)
15. Don't remember which yahoo, but
Thu Jun 2, 2016, 05:40 PM
Jun 2016

I think he said wind power would use up all the wind, and I think another one said solar power would use up all the sun. True story.

On edit: it was Joe Barton (R) Texas, in 2009 (House Committee on Energy) who said using wind power would slow down the wind. Also, some southern town rejected building a solar field because it would suck up all the sun.

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