Ship Logs Suggest Upcoming Polar Reversal

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Ship Logs Suggest Upcoming Polar Reversal

Posted by ryuzaki0 on Saturday May 13, 2006 @04:25AM from the straight-on-till-morning dept.

Nyerp writes "Researchers are using naval logs dating back as far as 1590 to arrive at better estimates of the decline of Earth's magnetic field. The results suggest that there may be a reversal of earth's magnetic field in about 2000 years." Also worth noting, our ancestors have lived through a number of polar reversals, and we're still here, so no need to fret!

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Global Warming? by Anonymous Coward · 2006-05-13 04:28 · Score: 4, Funny

Retroactive due to Global Warming, I bet!
1. Re:Global Warming? by Jedi+Alec · 2006-05-13 07:42 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Nah, this is just God's way of telling us to bring back Star Trek. Oh noes, something's broken, reverse the polarity!
  
  --
  
  People replying to my sig annoy me. That's why I change it all the time.
Duh. by TubeSteak · 2006-05-13 04:28 · Score: 4, Funny

This one's a no-brainer guys.

Just turn your compass around 180 degrees, then it'll be pointing South instead of North.

--
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
1. Re:Duh. by nsayer · 2006-05-13 04:55 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Yes, except that's what you tell your descendents, a few generations after the compass becomes useless.
  
  While the flips may occur quickly on a geological timeframe, they take much longer than a human lifetime to occur and stabilize.
  
  A compass is a handy thing to have at sea, since without landmarks its the easiest way to keep pointing in the same direction. But there are other ways to navigate - with and without technology. We (or rather, "they," since we'll long be dust) will just have to make do with them.
2. Re:Duh. by nsayer · 2006-05-13 06:02 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Like GPS (or the Euro version Galileo) and stars?
  No. Neither of those will tell you which way you're pointing. Both of those tell you where you are (actually, the cellestial version will only tell you where you are with the aid of an accurate clock).
  Not quite the same thing.
  On land, it's easy to walk in a straight line. You pick a tree or a rock or a mountain, walk towards it, then check your GPS gizmo and it will tell you which direction you walked. But while you're walking, you simply walk in the direction of the landmark you've chosen.
  At sea, this is impossible. You can't just steer towards a landmark, because there are none. The best you can do is steer towards a particular star (the sun counts), but you'll probably have to make corrections for its motion. A compass serves the same purpose as a distant tree or mountain on land -- keeps you pointing in the same direction over the course of the present to near future. You need to be able to do that reliably before position fixes can help get you where you want to be.
  Position references can be finessed into giving you a bearing track, but that's like telling a day trader that because the stock went up yesterday it's going to go up again tomorrow - maybe, but maybe not. You need more data to be sure.
3. Re:Duh. by Mostly+a+lurker · 2006-05-13 06:26 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Like GPS (or the Euro version Galileo) and stars?
  No. Neither of those will tell you which way you're pointing. Both of those tell you where you are (actually, the cellestial version will only tell you where you are with the aid of an accurate clock).
  
  The stars, with even a rudimentary timepiece, are sufficient to provide a good guide to general direction. Before compasses ever existed, navigation was done based on them.
  As for GPS (the most accurate versions) two appliances at opposite ends of a vessel together with suitable calculations would give you the orientation of the vessel. (I have no idea if this is ever done.)
4. Re:Duh. by Spy+Hunter · 2006-05-13 13:22 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  No need for two GPS receivers. If you are moving, the GPS can easily tell which direction you are going, which is more important than the direction you are facing anyway (especially on a boat or plane where they might be different without an easy way to tell).
  
  --
  main(c,r){for(r=32;r;) printf(++c>31?c=!r--,"\n":c<r?" ":~c&r?" `":" #");}
electronic dependence by pilybaby · 2006-05-13 04:29 · Score: 4, Insightful

Our ancestors may have lived through this several times before but wont it affect us more as we are highly dependent on electricity and satalites etc?
1. Re:electronic dependence by Sponge+Bath · 2006-05-13 05:00 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  ...affect us more as we are highly dependent on electricity
  It won't affect my stereo because I'm using Monster
  brand cables with a special anti polar reversal coating.
  The extended warranty I was sold should keep it
  functional for the 2000 years it takes to complete the process.
  
  Man, Best Buy rocks!
Yei! by suv4x4 · 2006-05-13 04:30 · Score: 5, Funny

The results suggest that there may be a reversal of earth's magnetic field in about 2000 years.

Let the War on Polar Reversal begin!
Imagine the customers.... by MindPrison · 2006-05-13 04:33 · Score: 4, Funny

...faces when they return to the shop to complain about their compasses showing the wrong direction.

--
What this world is coming to - is for you and me to decide.
I think I saw this on the nature channel by Attrition_cp · 2006-05-13 04:34 · Score: 5, Funny

I hear the penguins call it the War of Northern Aggression.

--
Touched By His Noodley Appendage.
Re:long term effects by BigCheese · 2006-05-13 04:39 · Score: 5, Funny

That will be interesting to see. They probably have a mechanism for handling it since it happens periodically.
I'm sure the biggest result of magnetic field reversal will be the number of PhDs granted.

--
The obscure we see eventually. The completely obvious, it seems, takes longer. - Edward R. Murrow
"No need to fret?" Like hell. by gblues · 2006-05-13 04:41 · Score: 4, Interesting

Also worth noting, our ancestors have lived through a number of polar reversals, and we're still here, so no need to fret!

Sure, no need to fret. It's not like we haven't invested hundreds of years worth of technology and research based on magnetic reference points. Oh, wait...

Nathan
It's just... by Anonymous Coward · 2006-05-13 04:41 · Score: 5, Funny

It's just the Earth's way of trying to degauss itself ... just not doing a very good job of it so far!
Have you seen maps from 1590? by Anonymous Coward · 2006-05-13 05:06 · Score: 5, Funny

According to those maps, the world was a different shape, and had huge monsters in the oceans.
Re:Slightly off... by 4D6963 · 2006-05-13 05:07 · Score: 4, Informative

To say just because our ancestors lived through it 780 million years
780 million years ago, there was nothing close to a monkey on earth. There wasn't even any ammonites IIRC. I think you mean 780,000 years ago.
As for your skin cancer concern, I saw a show about the very topic of magnetic field reversal on TV about one year ago. They explained basically what this article explains about the field weakening and all that, and they answered to the question of whether cancers due to the the lack of a magnetic field would wipe all of us out of the surface of us, and the answer was that the number of cancers due to that wouldn't be that significant, however I forgot the estimates.

--
You just got troll'd!
Cause for concern by cmeans · 2006-05-13 05:14 · Score: 5, Funny

I think it's safe to say that everyone that was alive during the last reversal, is dead now.
I find it hard to believe that we shouldn't be concerned.

--
Give a hand, not a hand-out.
North will stay the same... by LinuxRulz · 2006-05-13 05:14 · Score: 5, Funny

as long as the toilets in the northern hemisphere still flush clockwise.
Re:north = ? by Anonymous Coward · 2006-05-13 05:23 · Score: 5, Informative

Not entirely. There will actually be several poles.

The Earth's magnetic field isn't just a dipole (2 pole) field. There are other components of the field, quadurpole (4 pole), octopole (8 pole), etc.. Normally, these components are at least on oder of magnitude weaker than the dipole component. During a magnetic field reversal, the dipole component is so weak that the other components become important. The Earth will then have several sets of weak magnetic poles, at various places around the Earth.
Re:north = ? by 6ULDV8 · 2006-05-13 06:02 · Score: 5, Funny

Offsite backup poles?

--
Pull my finger for my public key.
Re:Slightly off... by ceoyoyo · 2006-05-13 08:04 · Score: 4, Interesting

Not quite. Skin cancer is believed to be caused by UV radiation. The magnetic field has absolutely no effect on UV. What the magnetic field DOES help to block is charged particles, particularly protons.

People living at high latitudes and on the equator or flying planes for a living already get quite a bit more proton radiation than everybody else. British Airways has monitored their flight crews for a couple of decades and found that, despite the higher exposure, life expectancy was higher and cancer rates lower.