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Dispelling Myths About Geomagnetic Reversal
UniverseToday has an interesting look at geomagnetic reversal, the process in which the Earth's magnetic poles trade places. The article cites known trends and recent studies to debunk doomsday myths and unsubstantiated claims about the process. One such study is attempting to model the earth's core with a 26-ton ball of molten metal. Another recently found evidence that the Earth has a second, weaker magnetic field. "We do know that this magnetic pole flip-flop has occurred many times in the last few million years; the last occurred 780,000 years ago according to ferromagnetic sediment. A few scaremongering articles have said geomagnetic reversal occurs with 'clockwork regularity' — this is simply not true."
...and the bankers flipped.
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
The only reason I'd really be worried about the magnetic field flipping is that a changing magnetic field induces a current in a conductor. This means every electronic and electrical device with a closed loop would experience a large current, likely destroying the smaller equipment.
The magnitude is questionable, though. It all depends on how quickly the magnetic field changes, what the field strength of the earth is, and the design of electrical devices affected.
It's been a long time.
I wanna see it flip and take it all with it.
Lets return to the earth, have half of us killed, and go back to hunting venison like we very well used to before some assholes started to chat about this "civilization" crap we are in right now.
Fuck that.
Back to the trees people, this stupid "modern society" thing didnt work.
NO SIG
"we'll be exposed to the vast quantities of radiation blasting from the Sun; with a reversing magnetic field comes a weakening in the Earth's ability to deflect cosmic rays."
Finally, a use for our tinfoil hats!
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
AFAIK the process takes a very long time and would be very gradual and although it may begin soon it would take a long time and allow for everything to adjust, if required.
However, one can never be really sure... any data on effects of previous switches?
I heard it happened with a Clockwork Orange...
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The guy who runs the 26 ton ball of molten metal. That's a Mad Scientist gleam in the eyes if ever I saw one.
http://rocknerd.co.uk
Without GPS, our airliners will also plough into the ground
Goddamit man, we can't land without GPS!
Good thing Lindberg had GPS, otherwise he would've gotten lost like Earhart did when her GPS failed.
GPS approaches are actually relatively new and are just now in the past few years showing up on modern Jeppsen charts.
That being said, modern GPS based navigation is so sweet. Nothing is sweeter than jumping into a plane with a G1000 GPS based system, complete with XM weather and traffic warning systems and seeing it all on configurable glass panels. But if it fails there is always backup "classic" gauges one can use. And even if that fails there is ye olde grey matter.
Just because I don't have a fancy "doctorate" or even "college education", doesn't mean you can just dismiss my theories! Einstein didn't go to college after all, look where he ended up!
I'm telling you, my theory is solid. I saw this show on the History Channel the other day that was talking about what kind of propulsion UFO's might use, and it came to me: What would happen if the Earth's magnetic field happened every 780,000 years and 300 days, exactly? That would mean it would happen again in November! Our only hope is to align every source of magnetic material in the world along north-south magnetic lines! I've already done this with my stove, fridge, and just to be safe my wireless network. I encourage all of you to do the same!
I am not crazy people! My scientific theories are backed up by some of the finest dramatization programs the Discovery Channel has to offer!
The fact is that the last serious efforts to measure the Earth's magnetic field in the South Atlantic were terminated in the mid-1980's when the British government pulled the funding for their geomagnetic programme in the South Atlantic. Everything that's been speculated upon since then is postulated on their measurements of rapid ans significant weakening of the magnetic field in the South Atlantic... but nobody's been watching since the mid-80's.
So we don't really know.
Last time anybody bothered to look, there was a local North Pole in the South Atlantic. But that was 25 years ago. And nobody can be bothered to fund looking again.
Never mind that any significant change in the Earth's magnetic field will have serious impact on the Van Allen belts and therefore on minor shit like communication satellites, space stations and the ionosphere...
New mod option wanted: -1 DrunkenRambling
While it is really dangerous out there sometimes, and a lot of people take nature for granted (Hurricane Katrina, anyone). I'm less concerned about humanity being wiped out in a giant EMP than I am about humanity wiping itself out in a stupendous act of stupidity.
I guarantee you, when we have this conversation again in heaven or hell, it was some retarded human in a position of power that killed us all.
Never underestimate the stupidity of humanity. A huge killer EMP would perhaps be a welcome relief.
The real question is, how can we torpedo our economy in order to prevent it?
And let him cast Dispell. Should work against any "geomagnetic reversal" buff cast on the earth.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power lost.
...and global warming has that all wrapped up.
And of course, there's no way to make political or monetary gain on something that you absolutely cannot change.
It's not just molten metal; it's molten SODIUM!
If you've ever seen a small chunk of pure sodium tossed into a sink full of water in a high school chemistry class ... and then think how much this guy has ... you'd have that look in your eyes as well.
He's probably planning to dump it into his neighbor's swimming pool when the experiment is finished.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
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The UniverseToday article repeatedly points out that there is no evidence to support the dooms day theories regarding geomagnetic reversal and admits to not knowing how geomagnetic reversal works.
"Again, we simply do not know."
"Again, there is absolutely no scientific evidence to support this claim."
Then he says something most curious:
"So, already this doomsday theory falters in that geomagnetic reversal does not occur with "clockwork regularity," and it has no connection with solar dynamics. We are not due a magnetic flip as we cannot predict when the next one is going to occur, magnetic reversals occur at seemingly random points in history."
Well you know what. Back at'cha bub. There is no evidence to support your theories ether. There is no evidence stating geomagnetic reversal *isn't* related to the solar cycle. And there is no evidence stating we are not due for such a reversal.
Absence of proof is not proof of absence. He goes on to ignore this simple fact of logic throughout the rest of his article, repeatedly using that there is no evidence supporting the claims as if it were proof that the claims are wrong.
I don't think the doomsayers are right... but I take issue with a so called "solar physics doctor" (ie a scientist) is using such horribly flawed reasoning to support his claims.
The earth's magnetic field is about half a gauss at the surface. It's weaker than the field generated by a refrigerator magnet. I think it's safe to say that the flip is not gonna destroy your electronics.
No, but it may reek havoc on analogue navigational instruments, and the migration of many animals (there's a hypothesis that birds use the magnetic field to know where to go).
It's hard to tell what flip would do to modern society and the earth's ecosystem.
It really isn't. The problem itself is not the reversal itself, but the period inbetween, when the magnetic field will be very small or inexistent. The earth's magnetic field has the effect of diverting charged energetic particles emitted by the sun towards the poles. It's those particles entering the atmosphere that cause the northern lights. Without a magnetic field, they would penetrate more into the atmosphere, possibly causing harm to living beings.
However, this reversal will happen several hundred years from now. By that time, I'm sure that, if I'm alive, it will be because we will have some pretty advanced medicine, capable of handling the increased radiation effects.
I don't think a field change at .0000000000004 Hz is going to induce much current anywhere.
.03% of the world population. Just a doubling of the current rate of death due to cancer would kill 7.9 million people - almost four times that of AIDS. And with sufficient radiation exposure, the cancer rate could well escalate way beyond 2X.
TFA does little to debunk what may be the biggest danger, and that is the disruption of the Van Allen radiation belt, and the protection that it provides to the Earth from cosmic rays. While I'm sure that the radiation belt would re-establish itself to match the "flipped" magnetic poles, it may not do so during the transition period. And this pole flipping may be quick in geological terms, but it may take a number of years, and during that time, part or all of the Earth may be bombarded with cosmic rays. Or, the distorted field may actually concentrate cosmic rays upon parts of the Earth many times what you'd find in space outside the belt. These cosmic rays would cause massive increases in cancer and genetic mutations in all species of plants and animals, and even a stack of tinfoil hats won't help. Much.
Increases in cancers would not be detected in the geological records, and periods of high radiation may explain things like the Cambrian Explosion, where many new species spontaneously appeared. If the field swaps by rotating from pole to pole, the radiation belt will probably just follow along, but if the poles swap by diminishing to zero and then building at the opposite pole, there will be a very dramatic change (and possible collapse) of the radiation belt that could very well affect life on the planet very dramatically (from our perspective). The scourge of AIDS killed 2.1 million people in 2007. That's
Of course, ancient calendars not withstanding, there's no reason to believe any of this is likely to happen during our lifetimes.
During those periods of time, weakening of the main field reveals "virtual poles," regions of strong magnetism within the shallow core field. For example, Singer says, "If you were on Tahiti when those eruptions were taking place, your compass needle would point to not the North Pole, not the South Pole, but Australia."
Would it be possible to measure this magnet field now? e.g. the direction of this magnet field?
If so wouldn't it enable us to do predict our position on earth without stars/sun and time as in the old days, or GPS as used these days?
Just a random thought, I don't know if we can distinguish the two fields (which we probably can't apart from strength), or/and if the weak field is too weak to be measured. Does anybody have a clue?
I saw a show on this on PBS a while back. They kept playing this really ominous music, the narrator was constantly making frightening suggestions-but-not-declarations like "Could a magnetic pole reversal have killed off the dinosaurs?" Of course, the answer turned out to be no. The whole effect actually managed to get me a little worried about what the punchline would be (yes, I am SO gullible, but at least I'm self-aware about it), but at the end they were just like... Yeah, you'll be able to see the aurora borealis in London fifty years from now. Oh.
But if someone had only been paying half-attention to the show, they totally could have come away with the impression that we're in big trouble.
Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
At any given point, the magnetic field you measure will be the vector sum of all the fields acting there at that time. So you will measure one resultant, no matter how many fields there are, and from the information at that one point it is not possible to infer how many fields there are. Measurements at multiple points might give enough information to infer the number of field sources.
But of course if one source goes away, it is then possible to measure any remaining sources. I presume this can be done historically by looking at the magnetism locked into rock that was molten and then set at the particular time. Provided the rock has not been moved significantly, it will retain the field in the direction of the then current global field.
... for a more civilized times.
As can be seen from the diagram (left), magnetic reversal has occurred fairly chaotically in the last 160 million years. Long-term data suggests that the longest stable period between magnetic "flips" is nearly 40 million years (during the Cretaceous period over 65 million years BC) and the shortest is a few hundred years.
Some 2012 theories suggest that the Earth's geomagnetic reversal is connected to the natural 11-year solar cycle. Again, there is absolutely no scientific evidence to support this claim. No data has ever been produced suggesting a Sun-Earth magnetic polarity change connection.
So, already this doomsday theory falters in that geomagnetic reversal does not occur with "clockwork regularity," and it has no connection with solar dynamics. We are not due a magnetic flip as we cannot predict when the next one is going to occur, magnetic reversals occur at seemingly random points in history.
Well you know what. Back at'cha bub. There is no evidence to support your theories ether. There is no evidence stating geomagnetic reversal *isn't* related to the solar cycle. And there is no evidence stating we are not due for such a reversal.
See graph on the FA.
BTW... just to clarify - something "random" can not have a 11-year cycle. Integer described cycle is NOT RANDOM.
Ergo... no connection or even correlation between the 11-year solar cycle and magnetic shifts.
Also... being "due" for something implies prediction.
As of yet - we are not able to predict random events. Even ones with 160 million years of previous cases.
Just because there is a minuscule chance of me being hit by a meteor right now...
OK... nothing happened...
... that does not mean that I am "due" to be hit by a meteor.
Or to win a lottery.
.
.
.
OK... still not being hit by a meteor...
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
The article is actually a rant against the 2112 Millenialism of a particular strain of people that have imprinted the mayan great cycle myth at a precognitive level through the influence of McKenna (whether they know it or not). At best, the article says that it's not very probable that a reversal will happen in our lifetime and if it does, "satellites may malfunction and migrating birds may become confused" but that's about it. Without a shred of proof given to that. It could presumably be much worse, so we should probably at least look at it.
though I do concur that the world probably won't end dec 21 2012.
However it also makes reference to a type of potentially catastrophic type event, a 'polar shift', which is really rare. Of course, all that means is that it is eventually inevitable. So there's another ticking clock. Has anyone come up with a clock incorporating all the known doomsday events that are actually going to happen sooner or later? e.g. catastrophic asteroid, polar shift, super solar event, whatnot? Would be interesting.
in light of the up-and-coming nigger president
Ha ha. You get to be a black man or hold an equivalent social position in your next life. Guaranteed. You can tell yourself it isn't true, but in those dark, private moments when you're not so sure. . , that's when truth is calling. It's called 'Karama', dude, and you're racking up a helluva debt. Don't believe in Karma? Doesn't matter. You are screwed and deep (deep) down inside, you know I'm right.
-FL
Mayan's aren't the only ones that have a calendar that has an interesting timeline, Nasa too has predicted the beginning of Solar Cycle #24 which hits its maxis around 2012. Between possibilities of a geomagnetic reversal, super coronal mass ejections and the gravitational affects on our planet and sun as we pass through the galactic equinox should provide for some interesting times!
The road between democracy and tyranny is paved with secrecy in the name of security.
don't eat the Soylent Green!
TFA states: "The Earth's magnetic field is measured to vary in field strength and it is a well known fact that the magnetic field strength is currently experiencing a downward trend."
Being a complete lay-person at climatology etc. I can't help but ask a possibly silly question; if there may be a connection between the charged particles entering our atmosphere at any period and subsequent changes in temperature or weather patterns.
Are there any studies of possible connections there?
You insensitive clod, I loved that cell!
The Brunhes-Matuyama reversal at 780000 yrs ago was a major reversal, yes: but within the Brunhes epoch, after 780,000 yrs ago, there were several smaller, i.e. short-lasting, reversals.
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem delendam esse
The field may fdrop to about a third intentisty at most. This has been measured in volcanic rocks in Oregon for the last flip.
I thought this happened twice a year and Congress mandated it. Spring forward and fall back and all that.
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong fix.
I laid claim to the world's 3rd axis a while back when I read the story of the equator getting wider from the melting of the polar ice caps, which led me to believe that there was in fact 3 rd axis to the earth, in its quest to circle the sun. No one quite took me seriously, however, if you take this into consideration, it could be the reason we are experiencing global warming of sorts, it isnt gloabl warming, as much more then a shift of the axis, which is throwing certain continents out of wack....imagine now canada is the england and iceland is now poland and etc...etc... we may have small shifts, depending at what point of reference the shift is happening from a 360% position.
If you take a cueball from the game of pool, when you put a spin on it, you will aim high to make it go low, similar to aiming low to make it go high, etc...so depending on where the focal point is located, the shift would have to be calculated from there to know which continent is now which!
"And they said math was easy!"
Okay, we have a couple of thousand years to go, but what if this crazy human species lets off hundreds of nuclear explosions at the same time. Isn't that likely to trigger a geomagnetic reversal? As it seems, such a reversal will probably be the least of our problems in such a situation, but for the sake of completeness I want to ask this question. Would the "geography" of nuclear explosions be of relevance (all in one place vs. distributed over the planet). I presume no-one can tell, huh?
out flowings aren't due to flips of the Earth's magnetosphere?
mmm... Geologists have been claiming magnetic flips since Warner. From the National Research Council of Canada:
http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/eng/education/astronomy/tapping/2007/2007-05-29.html
The Atlantic Ocean is getting a few centimetres wider each year. Molten rock is emerging from the Earth's mantle at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, providing new seabed, and as it solidifies, records the magnetic field. As we move away from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, we encounter progressively older rocks, forming a continuous record many millions of years long. It turns out that on the average, the Earth's magnetic field reverses every 500,000 years or so. The rocks tell us the last reversal happened about 780,000 years ago, making the next reversal overdue. At the point of transition the Earth's magnetic field vanishes, along with our protection. Strange changes in the magnetic field in the South Atlantic could indicate the transition has started. If this is true, what can we expect?
The literature if filled with research using magnetic reversals to prove various hypotheses. Also, the magnetic reversal is sited as a proof against Creationists contention that the Earth is less than 25K years old and the magnetic field hasn't reversed itself.
Running with Linux for over 20 years!
From TFA..."with a reversing magnetic field comes a weakening in the Earth's ability to deflect cosmic rays. Our armada of communication and military satellites will drop from orbit, adding to the chaos on the ground.
There will be social unrest, warfare, famine and economic collapse."
So..., what's new?