Posted on 08/25/2008 5:58:11 PM PDT by Raineygoodyear
There are these changes in the South Atlantic, an area where the magnetic field has the smallest envelope at one third [of what is] normal," said Mioara Mandea, a geophysicist at the GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences in Potsdam, Germany. Even before the newly detected changes, the South Atlantic Anomaly represented a weak spot in the magnetic field — a dent in Earth's protective bubble. Bubble bobble The Earth's magnetic field extends about 36,000 miles into space, generated from the spinning effect of the electrically-conductive core that acts something like a giant electromagnet. The field creates a tear-drop shaped bubble that has constantly shielded life on Earth against much of the high-energy radiation flowing from the sun. The last major change in the field took place some 780,000 years ago during a magnetic reversal, although such reversals seem to occur more often on average. A flip in the north and south poles typically involves a weakening in the magnetic field, followed by a period of rapid recovery and reorganization of opposite polarity. Some studies in recent years have suggested the next reversal might be imminent, but the jury is out on that question. Measuring interactions between the magnetic field and the molten iron core 1,864 miles down has proven difficult in the past, but the constant observations of satellites such as CHAMP and Orsted have begun to bring the picture into focus. Electric storm Mandea worked with Nils Olsen, a geophysicist at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, to create a model of the fluid core that fits with the magnetic field changes detected by the satellites. However, the rapid weakening of the magnetic field in the South Atlantic Anomaly region could signal future troubles for such satellites.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Bush’s fault. Next....
GRrrrrrrr. Ya beat me to it.
Damn, you beat me to it.
There are other links besides just the Mayan calendar that portend catastrophe. The sun will be aligned with the center of the Milky Way for the first time in about 26,000 years on the same day, which marks the winter solstice.
Some say that will disrupt the energy flow to Earth, or that the high rate of sunspots or sun flares that NASA has predicted for 2012 could affect Earth magnetic fields.”
bump for later
catastrophe ping
Let me guess - it’s the US’s fault - we have to destroy our economy to solve the problem, and “scientists” on the left will get major grant money to study it...
Y2K redux — the sky is falling....
the obvious cause of this magnetic shift is due to flux from man made internal combustion engines. hybrids have no effect, however.
D O O M E D
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Maybe this is what’s causing global warming.
This must have something to do with the moons of Meepzorp, or a doobie.
For those of us non science folks, could you be so kind as to put this phenomenon in plain English?
Let’s assume this all happened within the next year - what would it mean to the average every day person on the street?
Darn.
Chicken Little was right!
Obama is promising change. Now we know that he means it - South will be North and North will be South - change you can believe in.
I assume you left something out since two points are always aligned to each other. So it's the sun, the galaxy center and what other point?
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