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North Pole Heads South
blamanj writes "Things are not looking good for Santa. First, news that it's getting warmer at the North Pole, and now, scientists report that the (magnetic) pole itself is on the move. 'Earth's north magnetic pole is drifting from North America at such a clip that it could end up in Siberia in the next 50 years.'"
Is it true that we are overdue for a reversal in the polarity of the Earths magnetic field? Would this be a Bad Thing for us humans if it happened soon?
http://michaelsmith.id.au
i don't think it's news that the north pole is getting warmer, but the actual magnetic pole moving?
well now that i read about it the poles moving seems pretty normal.
"They found that the north magnetic field shifted significantly in the last thousand years. It generally migrated between northern Canada and Siberia, but it sometimes moved in other directions, too."
Does this mean the South Pole will shift to Chile or Argentina as well?
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
This does not bode well for our sources of travel...We have all depended on the compase on everything and with the movement it could cause catostrophic damages for plains, boats, and any other form of travle that depends widly on a compus. Then of course there may be those who would worry about the earth having violent reactions to a polarity change...imagine violent earthquakes, volcanoes erupting, tsunamis, and any other kind of major disastor we can imagine. All of this effected by a change in polarity...
Santa doesn't live at the magnetic North Pole, silly.
Exactly, as the magnetic north pole is somewhere in Antarctica (or close to, cant remember). The north pole on the compass points north due to the magnetic south pole there (somewhere between Canada or Siberia depending on time).
Yours Yazeran
Plan: To go to Mars one day with a hammer.
Consider: Birds don't live for decades. If the pole were to shift within a year or two, it might very well hose the bird population. However, if a flip happens over the next 50 years, then there will be many bird generations between now and then. Each generation will get "used to" the new orientation as it happens.
From a strictly Darwinian standpoint, this would explain why birds don't live very long. A bird that lives longer will experience more of the shift during its lifetime. During a shift, more of them will become lost and confused. Therefore, having a shorter lifespan is an advantage. Birds that live longer would tend to have more trouble during a shift, and would get weeded out of the gene pool from time to time.
Stupid birds.
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If you are worried about climate change, then you should also be worried about polar shift. I'm sure the two are more related then you think. -B
One thing I always wondered about the warmer period before the little ice age... wouldn't it have flooded Europe, just as people predict the current warming trend will do?
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