How Earth’s Magnetic Field Flip Will Impact Life on Our Planet. (By, Maria Mulko)

The flipping of the planet’s magnetic pole sounds like the plot of a disaster movie, but it seems to happen cyclically and at somewhat predictable intervals. In fact, for the past 20 million years or so, Earth’s magnetic field has flipped every 200,000 to 300,000 years —although it has been more than twice that long since the last one. 

But what does this mean? Could the next geomagnetic reversal occur at any time? And if that is the case, should we be worried?

The Earth’s magnetic field is a magnetic field that originates in its core. The reason why Earth has a magnetic field is due to its solid iron core that is surrounded by an ocean of hot, liquid metal, which generates an electric current as it moves.

The molten, conductive fluid in the Earth is constantly moving. Earth’s core is extremely hot, over 9,000°F (5,000°C), even hotter than the outer layer of the Sun, and this heat drives convection currents in the outer core. The constant movement of the molten outer core around the solid iron inner core generates a magnetic field via the dynamo effect, which extends out into the space around the Earth.

The magnetic field shields the planet from the effects of the solar wind, and this is what allows life on Earth to exist.

The solar wind is full of charged particles, magnetic clouds, and radiation which would severely damage any life that might exist. Earth’s magnetic field, or magnetosphere, serves as a shield, deflecting and redirecting the solar wind.

In fact, when the solar wind slams into the magnetosphere, it produces the aurora borealis, the northern and southern lights in the polar regions. When charged particles from the sun strike atoms in Earth’s atmosphere, electrons move to higher-energy orbits. When the electrons move back to a lower-energy orbit, it releases a particle of light or photon.

During the Laschamp excursion, the North Pole wandered across North America and then rapidly down through the Pacific to Antarctica. The North Pole remained in Antarctica for around 400 years and then rapidly moved back up through the Indian Ocean to the North Pole. However, these changes were accompanied by a weakening in the magnetic field to as low as about six percent of its strength today.

The ozone layer was very damaged and living beings were exposed to the harmful ultraviolet light more directly than ever. Extreme climate changes and natural disasters are also believed to have occurred during this period.

As frightening as it sounds, many scientists believe that this doomsday scenario is extremely exceptional. While nobody can ensure that something like this won’t happen again in the history of Earth, when the magnetic reversals take place over thousands of years, as they almost always do, the effects on Earth are less dramatic. 

#TimeZone, it’s all about our mother earth, let’s hope that we don’t have to deal with this problem. We have enough with the talks about climate change at #COP26!

I will be back with more updates, every week.

Windmush, Curt