Earth's Magnetic Field

Kinda like global warming. It happens every few thousand/hundred thousand years.

The "great climatic disruptor" will likely be the eruption of Yellowstone.

Actually, I have been hearing rumors about another krakatoa, the island has already reformed and is active. Another year with out summer maybe? Though I think I am going to put my money behind some major oil corporation accidentally drill in the wrong locations and releasing some ancient destructive diety from another realm.

At some time the N and S magnetic poles were reversed.

Hi Del, Yes, as a geologist we can see the effect of pole-reversal in rocks that contain minute crystals of magnatite (magnetic iron oxide), as we can also tell how old the rocks are, we can then tell when these pole-reversal events occured. This seems to have happened a number of times over the millions of years, and as yet nobody has come up with a sure fire explaination as to why/how it happens!

I see it as a business opportunity.

I will be starting franchises for small businesses to repaint the needles on compasses.

Not sure, authorities may get another chance to sit down and they may decide to reverse color code for magnetic needles,Little bit of work for publishers.

We have lobbyists hard at work to thwart that effort as I write.

Ok, I am sending letter for franchisee request, please consider.

Excellent! ;-)

You are pre-approved!

Your all MAD I tell e, quite MAD!

Spike Milligan

So what kind of tax will the world governments come up with to prevent the catastrophic polar flip?

Good question wcfloyd, knowing our government her in the UK they will at least ask for a 3% increase in incomme tax!

Xanasax

All strange and mysterious things are due to happen in 2012. The flipping of the poles, the peak of solar activity, and the passing of the yet to be found mystery planet in the outer solar system or X planet. I was thinking maybe of going somewhere warm and just enjoying the end of days. I will spend everything on all sorts of hedonistic ventures. Hell, they say I can't take it with me. So maybe the business opportunity will be in tourism. Especially if it offers the prospect of all things decadent for as long as my money holds out...not very long.

During the switching of the poles, the magnetosphere Gauss will reduce to about 10% according to Science Daily. If you combine this with the increase solar activity, it may indicate a secondary businesses in solar glasses, sun tan lotions, promoting great views of equatorial auroras, cameras and GPS units.

Now when Planet X gets involved we may need boats (arks actually) to survive a pending flood. Or do we just stay away from earthquake prone areas. Maybe we should build more emergency ship hospitals. When the sky is falling all us chickens run around a lot.

I win if it is the end of days, but on the other hand, if this is a big hype and I have spent my retirement fund and may have to return to work. Oh well I can say I had a great time.

Earths magnetic field is the weakest it was for the last 50 years. No one knows if it will become weaker or stronger in the future. The weaker magnetic field has an influence on our atmosfere allowing more radiation from the sun to reach earth.

All climate change is not due to the exhaust gas of cars. Weak mag. field, volcanic eruptions and big forrest fires is mostly to blame!

My Terios has been using too much petrol because of the blocked cathalitic dinglemendiary front exhaustbox, poluting the atmosfere.....fixed by throwing it out and replaced with home-made from fire extingguisher silencer!

jurie

Earth's magnetic fields have fluctuated and flipped polarity many times in the past. Some climatic changes may be associated with it, but I suspect those changes were minor. Good basic info here...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomagnetic_reversal

If the poles flip, will the polar bears all have to migrate to the other pole?

No, but it will wreak havoc on Magnetotactic bacteria!

Regards.

The North pole only drifts [I know as I am in Northehn Hemisphere ] as indicated in Surveyed Maps where the drift in miutes-seconds / year is indicated .

Read

The North Magnetic Pole moves slowly over time due to magnetic changes in the Earth's core. In 2001, it was determined by the Geological Survey of Canada to lie near Ellesmere Island in northern Canada at 81°18′N 110°48′W / 81.3°N 110.8°W / 81.3; -110.8 (Magnetic North Pole 2001). It was estimated to be at 82°42′N 114°24′W / 82.7°N 114.4°W / 82.7; -114.4 (Magnetic North Pole 2005 est) in 2005. In 2009, it was moving toward Russia at between 34 and 37 mi (55-60 km) per year

Its southern hemisphere counterpart is the South Magnetic Pole. Because the Earth's magnetic field is not exactly symmetrical, the North and South Magnetic Poles are not antipodal: a line drawn from one to the other does not pass through the centre of the Earth; it actually misses by about 530 km (330 mi).The Earth's North and South Magnetic Poles are also known as Magnetic Dip Poles, with reference to the vertical "dip" of the magnetic field lines at those points.

North Magnetic Pole

The compass shows the Magnetic Nort NOT the True North as it is called technecally.

I think that "climatic disruptions" may happen by the Orbital Drift of Earth.

I have read an article in which it is feared that if it diverts to a limit when we will feel if the Sun is rising from North[ or South] then from West.

But it all is a millions of years process.

Not sure what your comment "The North pole only drifts..." is implying?

Do you mean to imply the magnetic poles don't flip, as someone stated above? Also the rate that the north magnetic pole is migrating has accelerated in the last 2 decades, apparently as of recently the rate has increased even further to approximately 40 miles per year. Additionally, the magnetic field strength has apparently been weakening over many decades. This could be indicative of a future flip in the magnetic poles if the field continues to weaken, prior to the flip and re-establishment of polar magnetic fields, there could be numerous poles all over the globe. Now that would be problematic for magnetic based compass systems.

These are Not changing their polarity but Only North pole is drifting ; drifting rate depends where are you living.

In my view flipping is still out of any propabillity.

"The North Magnetic Pole moves slowly over time due to magnetic changes in the Earth's core. In 2001, it was determined by the Geological Survey of Canada to lie near Ellesmere Island in northern Canada at 81°18′N 110°48′W / 81.3°N 110.8°W / 81.3; -110.8 (Magnetic North Pole 2001). It was estimated to be at 82°42′N 114°24′W / 82.7°N 114.4°W / 82.7; -114.4 (Magnetic North Pole 2005 est) in 2005. In 2009, it was moving toward Russia at between 34 and 37 mi (55-60 km) per year "

For details please go to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Magnetic_Pole

Further to my previus reply:

Please read the atricle:

Obliquity

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axial_tilt

The obliquity of the ecliptic is not a fixed quantity but changing over time in a cycle with a period of 41,000 years. It is a very slow effect known as nutation, and at the level of accuracy at which astronomers work, does need to be taken into account on a daily basis. Note that the obliquity and the precession of the equinoxes are calculated from the same theory and are thus related to each other. A smaller ε means a larger p (precession in longitude) and vice versa. Yet the two movements act independent from each other, going in mutually perpendicular directions.

You do realize that the Earth's rotational axis and the magnetic axis are two independent things?

The two axis are not codependent and the magnetic shift over time has nothing in common with nutation.

I say this because I was a little confused about your statement about feeling the Sun rise in the south, north, or west. Pole reversals will not impact the rotational axis of the Earth.

Regards:

Please read full document if you like.

For ready reference :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutation

Astronomy

...

Because the dynamics of the planets are so well known, nutation can be calculated to within arcseconds over periods of many decades. There is another disturbance of the Earth's rotation called polar motion that can be estimated only a few months ahead, because it is influenced by rapidly and unpredictably varying things such as ocean currents, wind systems, and motions in the Earth's core.

Earth

In the case of Earth, the principal sources of tidal force are the Sun and Moon, which continuously change location relative to each other and thus cause nutation in Earth's axis. The largest component of Earth's nutation has a period of 18.6 years, the same as that of the precession of the Moon's orbital nodes. However, there are other significant periodical terms which must be calculated depending on the desired accuracy of the result. A mathematical description (set of equations) that represents nutation is called a "theory of nutation". In the theory, parameters are adjusted in a more or less ad hoc method to obtain the best fit to data. As can be seen from the IERS publication just cited, nowadays simple rigid-body mechanics do not give the best theory; one has to account for deformations of the solid Earth.

FYI, the 40 miles per year as curent rate was the value i just heard the Menlo Park spokeman reference that it had accelerated to during 2010 on the news on KGO just last week. They were discussing the rate of increase in the drift of the magnetic poles and the effect on flight navigation. This is why I was refering to it. The rate has been accelerating.

Something else to note, much like the sun, there is some evidence that during a pole flip the magnetic field strength drops and multiple poles start to appear all over before the poles re-establish strength in opposite polarities of previous. So at some point you can have multiple north and south poles on the planet immediately prior to reversal.

This comment is more of a pot stirrer than coming from any physics background. It is interesting to note that the sun has magnetic poles (north and south) that flip about every 11 years and corresponds to the maximum cycle of sun spot activity. The next due date is 2012 for such a solar magnetic pole flip. The earth also experiences a geomagnetic jerk every 10 years or thereabouts. It then seems possible that a sudden flipping of the earth's magnetic field is possible. The sun's polar field has a slight affect on the earth's pole orientation. Should the like positive (or negative) poles of the earth be oriented ( enhanced by the axial tilt) such that it would be closest to the same solar pole, and a geomagnetic jerk occurred at the same time, it would seem possible that the earth's poles could flip quickly to orient with the sun (opposite poles attract). You can experiment with small bar magnets and iron filings to see how close the points need to be to cause such a flip. And does a small geomagnetic jerk push the flipping over the edge. Or does an increased solar wind reshape the magnetosphere to assist the flip.

I am not sure what causes the sun's poles to flip and in a clock-like manner every 11 years. There is much we have to know and only seem to guess at why the earth's poles flip every several million years. If the sun is causing the flip with some sort of magnetic pole alignment, it seems to me it would be very quick (just not sure how quick but something less than a year is possible). What role, if any, does the geomagnetic jerk play? So the potential doomsday scenarios of 2012 cause speculation. So roils the pot.

Regards

A beautiful topic to see how well organised system of billions of always-moving bodies in a space having no limits to expand. And the people who spent their lives to explore it; and most important: submitted all their knowledge for future generations.

Really still lot is coming up from that sources to CR4 for us to have at least overview of the topic.

Thanks to all who brought one point or the other to update our own.

Hope more is coming ....