Earth’s magnetic field has always restored itself but, as it continues to shift and weaken, it will present challenges – satellites could be more exposed to solar wind and the oil industry uses readings from the field to guide drills. In nature, animals which use the field could be mightily confused – birds, bees, and some fish all use the field for navigation. So do sea turtles whose long lives, which can easily exceed a hundred years, means a single generation could feel the effects. Birds may be able to cope because studies have shown they have back-up systems that rely on stars and landmarks, including roads and power lines, to find their way around. The European Space Agency is taking the issue seriously. In November, it plans to launch three satellites to improve our fairly blurry understanding of the magnetosphere. The project – Swarm – will send two satellites into a 450 kilometer high polar orbit to measure changes in the magnetic field, while a third satellite 530 kilometers high will look at the influence of the sun. Scientists, who have known for some time the magnetic field has a tendency to flip, have made advances in recent years in understanding why and how it happens. The field is generated by convection currents that churn in the molten iron of the planet’s outer core. Other factors, such as ocean currents and magnetic rocks in the earth’s crust also contribute. The Swarm mission will pull all these elements together to improve computer models used to predict how the magnetic field will move and how fast it could weaken. Ciaran Beggan, a geomagnetic specialist at the British Geological Survey in Edinburgh, said studies have also refined our understanding of how the field reverses. They have focused on lava flows. When these cool and form crystals the atoms in iron-rich molten rock align under the influence of the magnetic field, providing a geological memory of the earth’s field. But that memory looks different in various locations around the world, suggesting the reversal could be a chaotic and fairly random process. “Rather than having strong north and south poles, you get lots of poles around the planet. So, a compass would not do you much good,” said Beggan. While the whole process takes 3,000-5,000 years, latest research suggests the descent into a chaotic state could take as little as 500 years, although there are significant holes in scientific understanding. “Although electricity grids and GPS systems would be more vulnerable, we are not really sure how all the complex things that are linked together would react,” Beggan said. –Reuters [link to theextinctionprotocol.wordpress]
Posted on: Sun, 09 Jun 2013 20:25:37 +0000
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