Will Compasses Point South?

New York Times ^ | July 13, 2004 | WILLIAM J. BROAD

[Servant of the 9]

The collapse of the Earth's magnetic field, which both guards the planet and guides many of its creatures, appears to have started in earnest about 150 years ago. The field's strength has waned 10 to 15 percent, and the deterioration has accelerated of late, increasing debate over whether it portends a reversal of the lines of magnetic force that normally envelop the Earth.

During a reversal, the main field weakens, almost vanishes, then reappears with opposite polarity. Afterward, compass needles that normally point north would point south, and during the thousands of years of transition, much in the heavens and Earth would go askew.

A reversal could knock out power grids, hurt astronauts and satellites, widen atmospheric ozone holes, send polar auroras flashing to the equator and confuse birds, fish and migratory animals that rely on the steadiness of the magnetic field as a navigation aid. But experts said the repercussions would fall short of catastrophic, despite a few proclamations of doom and sketchy evidence of past links between field reversals and species extinctions.

[Elsie]

Captain!

This wormhole has affected our navigational computer!

It appears that we are in Argentina now.....

[neverdem]

Now: Earth's "north magnetic pole" is VERY RAPIDLY moving away from the Hudson bay and is now heading north-northwest towards Siberia at about 150-300 miles per year.

Actually it's a capitalist conspiracy. Bush is just a dupe of the Carlyle Group.

[neverdem]

PING, here are the graphics for the article.

This computer simulation shows the Earth's interior as its magnetic field reverses, perhaps because of changes in the flow of molten iron in the core.

[Mr.Atos]

150 to 300 miles per year ... sounds extreme. Are you sure that is not feet or meters? Does that shift relate to the 'eccentricity' of the Earth's rotation about its axis? If we are discussing extreme 'wobbles' of the nature you seem to be describing, then the Earth way be poised to shift from the trough (Warming trend) between the Wisconsin Glaciation toward the next glacial event... albeit 10,000+ years away.

As for the possible impact of a polarity shift... I think that we may be overlooking rather serious ramifications. The Van Allen Belt which deflects the majority of gamma radiation that emanates from the sun destined for the Earth, is an electromagnetic field that is created by the Earths polarity. If that polarity is neutralized - even for a few days, or weeks or years - the increased radiation impacting the Earth could have quite significant impacts. With that in mind, and I hate to admit, that the scenario presented in The Day After Tomorrow, could be quite ... uh, feasible (With the exception of that Liberty ice rink.)

[genefromjersey]

Somehow,I feel relieved I won't be around in 2050.....

[Citizen of the Savage Nation]

Will compasses point South?

No, they will always point North. Wherever that North is.

[Robert A Cook PE]

See the graphic immediately above your post: Note how the magnitude of the distance change, and its directions, have changed over recent time.

"Average" distance per year is now very rapid: though I admit I don't know the latest rate exactly.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Also: the magnetic pole switch is not necessarily linked to global warming, nor to the ozone layer changes.

Though it is LIKELY that both will impact it, and the polar switch is LIKELY to affect the other two.

I'm not going to minimize the effect of switching magnetic poles, nor trivialize it.

We just don't know what might happen: though, fortunately, nothing grossly bad happened (except Gore's recession!) due to/at the same time/immediately after the Y2K (lack of) incidents.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Terrific Graphics!!!

Doesn't look like the north pole is heading south though.

Fear-mongering is overdone.!!!!

[TechJunkYard]

Somehow,I feel relieved I won't be around in 2050.....

The world will end in January, 2038, when the Unix epoch overflows.

[genefromjersey]

2038 - 2050 : I'll be long gone !

[Elsie]

No, they will always point North.

RaTS!

MY compass is half broke: one end of IT points SOUTH!!

[SuziQ]

Whoa!! I guess that movie The Core really DID have it right! ;o)

[Lael]

Uhhh, if the flip is 180 degrees, why would compasses be a problem? I think I could adjust to the pointy end pointing south on my trusty field companion. (Although I'm sure compass manufacturers would make a fortune telling us we all had to buy new ones so the arrow still pointed north.)

The last Magnetic Field reversal happened during the 11th Century B.C....and the events were catastrophic...

It happened at the close of the Trojan War, and plunged the then civilized world into a 400 year "Dark Age".

It caused the very rapid melting of the Ice Age Icecaps...Egypt experienced extreme floding at that time, and the Sahara Desert became a combination Savannah-Swamp.

It initiated the massive flooding of Lake Titicaca on the Peru-Bolivia Frontier, and extinguished the City of Thiauanacho [sp] near the Lake, a city some contend dates to 17,000 B.C.

No, the shifting of the Magnetic Poles is not to be trifled with...on Earth.

It happens every 22.2 years on the Sun!

[Lael]

2038 - 2050 : I'll be long gone !

Yeah, but our kids will!!

[MissAmericanPie]

Much ado about nothing. I am a little curious about the bulge at the equator, perhaps a diet is called for.

[Elsie]

It caused the very rapid melting of the Ice Age Icecaps...Egypt experienced extreme floding at that time, and the Sahara Desert became a combination Savannah-Swamp.

HUH?

If this really happened the LAST time it flipped, then why aren't all these things you mention, still the same way??

[Elsie]

Oh NO!!!!

It's happening already!!!


http://www.afrol.com/articles/11358

[Lael]

If this really happened the LAST time it flipped, then why aren't all these things you mention, still the same way??

Because Antartica was located in a Temporate Climate Zone at that time...prior to the massive Crustal Displacement.

Ancient maps exist (validated by the U. S. Airforce [SAC] Technical Section, Wendover Airforce Base) showing Antartica in relatively ICE FREE state...which did not come to an end until 6,000 B.C.!!

[Elsie]

Ancient maps exist {where?} (validated by the U. S. Airforce [SAC] Technical Section, Wendover Airforce Base) showing Antartica in relatively ICE FREE state...which did not come to an end until 6,000 B.C.!!

 

 

OOPS!  THESE guys do not support your statement.

 

The chronology of the ice at Vostok has been established down to 2546 m, which is dated at 220,000 years before present.

From here -->  http://www.agu.org/sci_soc/vostok.html