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Earth's Magnetic Field is Weakening
Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2020 10:19 pm
by JQH
At least parts of it are. Some speculation that a pole reversal might be immanent (or indeed eminent)
https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observ ... j4I5x6n16g
Re: Earth's Magnetic Field is Weakening
Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2020 6:43 pm
by Little waster
Have we tried turning it off and on again?
Re: Earth's Magnetic Field is Weakening
Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2020 7:33 pm
by dyqik
I don't remember a year when I haven't heard speculation of an imminent pole reversal.
Re: Earth's Magnetic Field is Weakening
Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2020 7:43 pm
by Little waster
I assume if it happens we'll have to turn all our maps upside down and all our fridge-magnets will drop off.
Something needs to be done!!!
Re: Earth's Magnetic Field is Weakening
Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2020 7:50 pm
by dyqik
Little waster wrote: ↑Tue Jun 09, 2020 7:43 pm
I assume if it happens we'll have to turn all our maps upside down and all our fridge-magnets will drop off.
Something needs to be done!!!
I did something. Will that do?
Re: Earth's Magnetic Field is Weakening
Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2020 7:51 pm
by Little waster
dyqik wrote: ↑Tue Jun 09, 2020 7:50 pm
Little waster wrote: ↑Tue Jun 09, 2020 7:43 pm
I assume if it happens we'll have to turn all our maps upside down and all our fridge-magnets will drop off.
Something needs to be done!!!
I did something. Will that do?
*checks fridge* looks good to me. Also I need to buy milk.
Re: Earth's Magnetic Field is Weakening
Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2020 8:19 pm
by Bird on a Fire
dyqik wrote: ↑Tue Jun 09, 2020 7:33 pm
I don't remember a year when I haven't heard speculation of an imminent pole reversal.
I was under the impression that they take hundreds or thousands of years to happen? Which means the word 'imminent' really needs to be caveatted with 'geologically'
I expect that would be an incredibly difficult time to live through for all sorts of reasons, so judging by how 2020's gone so far I'd be very surprised if we don't have a reversal in the next few weeks, ushering in an age of geomagnetic chaos.
Re: Earth's Magnetic Field is Weakening
Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2020 8:59 pm
by Gfamily
Isogonic lines (lines of equal magnetic deviation) are moving faster than you might imagine.
Currently, in the UK they are moving West at a rate of about 2km per month.
https://maps.ngdc.noaa.gov/viewers/hist ... clination/
Re: Earth's Magnetic Field is Weakening
Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2020 9:04 pm
by Gfamily
Going to Arctic view and selecting to track the position of the Magnetic Pole is interesting
Re: Earth's Magnetic Field is Weakening
Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2020 12:20 pm
by jimbob
dyqik wrote: ↑Tue Jun 09, 2020 7:33 pm
I don't remember a year when I haven't heard speculation of an imminent pole reversal.
Likewise.
Re: Earth's Magnetic Field is Weakening
Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2020 8:42 am
by El Pollo Diablo
Bird on a Fire wrote: ↑Tue Jun 09, 2020 8:19 pm
dyqik wrote: ↑Tue Jun 09, 2020 7:33 pm
I don't remember a year when I haven't heard speculation of an imminent pole reversal.
I was under the impression that they take hundreds or thousands of years to happen? Which means the word 'imminent' really needs to be caveatted with 'geologically'
Right, so this is interesting - obviously the magnetic north pole is a reasonable distance from the actual north pole. So how does the process of reversal happen, exactly? Does it slowly move down through lower lines of latitude like a gap yah student? And what would be the impacts if it did reverse?
Re: Earth's Magnetic Field is Weakening
Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2020 3:52 pm
by darth tater
dyqik wrote: ↑Tue Jun 09, 2020 7:33 pm
I don't remember a year when I haven't heard speculation of an imminent pole reversal.
It's rather like domestic power from nuclear fusion, which, I was informed in 2010, has been 30 years in the future since the 1950s.
Re: Earth's Magnetic Field is Weakening
Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2020 4:07 pm
by JQH
darth tater wrote: ↑Wed Jun 17, 2020 3:52 pm
dyqik wrote: ↑Tue Jun 09, 2020 7:33 pm
I don't remember a year when I haven't heard speculation of an imminent pole reversal.
It's rather like domestic power from nuclear fusion, which, I was informed in 2010, has been 30 years in the future since the 1950s.
It was 40 years in the future when I was a student in the late 1970s.
It is still decades away.
Re: Earth's Magnetic Field is Weakening
Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2020 5:50 pm
by jimbob
JQH wrote: ↑Wed Jun 17, 2020 4:07 pm
darth tater wrote: ↑Wed Jun 17, 2020 3:52 pm
dyqik wrote: ↑Tue Jun 09, 2020 7:33 pm
I don't remember a year when I haven't heard speculation of an imminent pole reversal.
It's rather like domestic power from nuclear fusion, which, I was informed in 2010, has been 30 years in the future since the 1950s.
It was 40 years in the future when I was a student in the late 1970s.
It is still decades away.
The IET magazine in about 2008 (It's now removed from their website) had an article about this - interviewing a senior fusion researcher.
He stated that getting break-even wasn't the main engineering challenge. But the lifetime of the plant was. With current technologies, the reactor would have a max lifetime of about 18-months.