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Solar Winds to Protect Earth During Magnetic Pole Reversal
me98411 writes "A study published in April, hinted at possible anamolies/reversal in Earth's magnetic field. This study found that there is an anamoly in a large patch near South Africa where the Earth's magnetic field points in the opposite direction. Now, according to New Scientist, this planet might be safe during reversal of poles due to formation of replacement field created by interaction with solar winds. Phew! I was worried I will not be able to use my compass." Even better than compasses not being obsoleted, we won't be bombarded with dangerous levels of radiation, or so the scientists say.
are from the Aeronautics and Astronautics
group at the University of Washington.
They also have nice slides on airplane/spacecraft design,
also in PDF here
Mars does indeed have a significant magnetic field, it is just that it has several dozen north and south poles, which is the current theory about what will happen during the transition phase when the poles switch:
At first the poles weaken in strength.
New "North" & "South" poles start to appear in strage places, like in equatorial regions.
For a geologically brief period of time there are dozens to hundreds of magnetic "poles" scattered throughout the planet.
Eventually the number of poles start to drop, and the new magnetic "North" & "South" poles become more established and start to gain more strength. At this point the reversal is complete.
Mars appears to have gone geologically dead during the middle of one of these pole reversals, so Mars is also being used to provide a "snapshot" as to what the Earth might be like in the next 500 years.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/magnetic/