Earths Magnetic Field Declining Fast

The most recent offering on NOVA dealt with the current rapid weakening of Earths magnetic field. For members not living in the US, NOVA is a weekly science/nature documentary TV program on public broadcasting. It used to be an excellent program but IMO it's been dumbed down a bit recently to cater to the "show me pretty computer simulations and don't use too much math or chemistry" crowd. Nevertheless, they still pull off a really good program about 30% of the time. This was one of them. Heres a link:

NOVA Website

The program showed how throughout history the earths magnetic field weakens and reverses. It showed how Mars had a magnetic field but lost it completely and the result was a dead planet. The current weakening of our magnetic field is much more rapid than any other every detected. A weakened magnetic field will expose all life on earth to much greater doses of solar and cosmic radiation.

Just last night, another PBS program investigated historical massive global cooling events. Scientists have narrowed the causes down to asteroid/comet strikes or ultra massive volcanic eruptions.

Catastrophe

I noticed a link between the shows. The scientists on NOVA said the current magnetic field reversal is way overdue and the current weakening is much more rapid than normal.

The Catastrophe scientists noted that the last century has been way way less active volcanically than normal.

Could the lack of volcanic activity be linked to the radpidly decreasing magnetic field?

To me, these types of phenomena are a million times more dangerous to humanity than a few degree C increase average global temperature over decades or centuries. These kinds of things:

1) are poorly understood
2) can't be predicted acurately, and
3) cannot be controlled in an way.

They will result in massive loss of life, if not extinction. If you're a global warming beleiver and you loose sleep worrying about slowly rising sea levels and stronger hurricanes try thinking about these catostrphic events.

Thoughts?

good post,

looks like a good website.

thanks

snoopyuk

Is it possible that what appears to be a weakening of the magnetic poles is really a shifting of the poles in action? It's scientific fact that the poles are shifting, perhaps the measurements are being misinterpreted.

External Link

There's a great deal of speculation that a shifting could come to a head near the winter solstice of 2012.

Originally posted by amehrich
Is it possible that what appears to be a weakening of the magnetic poles is really a shifting of the poles in action? It's scientific fact that the poles are shifting, perhaps the measurements are being misinterpreted.

External Link

There's a great deal of speculation that a shifting could come to a head near the winter solstice of 2012.

Good link amehrich, and thanks snoopy,

I think its very likely the weakening is linked to the shift.

The linkage of the event to 2012 should heat up the activity on this thread by the prophecy and NWO posters!

...so, excuse my ignorace, but what happens if the magnetic poles switch in a quick manner? and how quickly is 'quick'?

Originally posted by 25cents
...so, excuse my ignorace, but what happens if the magnetic poles switch in a quick manner? and how quickly is 'quick'?

$0.25, Quick is surely a relative term. But some of the historical eveidence in the program showed that one event had the magnetic poles moving 100's - 1000's of miles per day.

and what are the consequences of such shifts?

There's a lot of speculation that any kind of shift could cause a great deal of geologically instability resulting in earth quakes, tsunamis, etc. Obviously all we can do is speculate about what would happen since there's no recorded history of it happening before, at least none that I'm aware of.

shouldn't they be able to see evidence of geological activity around the times they speculate previous shifts have occured?

Originally posted by 25cents
and what are the consequences of such shifts?

Your compass will point south instead of north.
Birds/whales etc. will not be able to navigate their migrations
the North Star will get it's name changed

All kidding aside, it's not the pole reversal that;s dangerous, its the weakening of the magnetic field and exposure to radiation.
Currently, US astronauts are only allowed approximately 100-140 total days in space over thier lifetime due to normal solar/cosmic radiation dosing.

A weakend magnetic field coupled with high solar activity or a nearby gamma ray burst could result in leathal radiation doses at ground level.

[edit on 10/26/2006 by darkbluesky]

solution: lead clothing. a return to lead based paint.

sure, our kids might end up retarded, but they'll be alive.

It's quite possible there's evidence hiding in plain site. For example have you ever seen a suggestive map that shows the Americas and Europe/Africa as being one large land mass? Looking at this image you can kind of see how the two land masses could have been one at one point.

External Link

Perhaps that's evidence.

The magnetic field of the earth is generated by the movement of materials within the core and the spinning of the core itself. The core is a 'dynamo'.

IF the decrease in field strength is due to less movement within the core, THEN that might provide something of a link to volcanic activity.

BUT, I don't recall any study that found a coincidence between past magnetic field reversals and volcanic activity. Indeed, the sea floor spreading record of magnetic field changes seems to imply that the spreading rate is unrelated to the changes in polarity.

As far as it being a catastrophe, the magnetic field has changed many times before. And its even changed while humans were around. Doesnt' seem to be catastrophe inducing.

amehrich
Perhaps that's evidence.

It is known that the poles have reversed in magnetic polarity in the past, its happened many many times. N. America and Europe used to be connected, they used to be one large continent. Then rifting in the middle of that continent occured, the rifting pushed the continent apart, and the atlantic ocean formed in between.
The Wilson Cycle

This means that hot lava poured out of the ridge, creating new seafloor.


Because the lava has magnetic particles in it, it 'recorded' the magnetic polarity of the earth at the time that it was erupting. When the rock solidifies, it 'freezes' that magnetic information. So we actually have a long term record of magnetic polar reversals, from the sea floor (of the atlantic and of course elsewhere).

Here is a nice page that explains some of this:
volcano.und.edu...

Great information and links. Thanks

Originally posted by Nygdan
As far as it being a catastrophe, the magnetic field has changed many times before. And its even changed while humans were around. Doesnt' seem to be catastrophe inducing.

The catastrophe program was about global cooling due to massive volcanic eruptions and/or asteroid strikes.

Interesting info.

I didn't see anything in there regarding frequency though, how often it happens. I'm wondering if its something you can set your watch too, or if its like the rain.

i bet nobody gets mad if they washed their car and the poles reverse the next day.

I saw the same show.

Originally posted by 25cents
...so, excuse my ignorace, but what happens if the magnetic poles switch in a quick manner? and how quickly is 'quick'?

We get more aurora borealis effects and we get them in the middle latitudes. So Chicago and Dallas can see the aurora more often. There is a possibility of increased rates of cancer for folks who are out in the sun lots.

And "quick" is next 200 years or so.

I wasn't going to lose any sleep over this.

Ha! Most likely not.

At least in relation to the 2012 speculation we have an approximate date to keep an eye on. If pole shifting is more of a random event then it could very well be an issue we never have to deal with in our lifetime.

Originally posted by amehrich
There's a lot of speculation that any kind of shift could cause a great deal of geologically instability resulting in earth quakes, tsunamis, etc. Obviously all we can do is speculate about what would happen since there's no recorded history of it happening before, at least none that I'm aware of.

You should change that to "very bad speculation."

We have (as the program said) a lot of snapshots of the dozen or more times that the poles reversed. Every time it reversed in the past there has been NO great period of geologic upheaval, no massive planetwide earthquakes, etc, etc.

They can tell this from the geologic record (they also said that in the show.)

The effects they spoke about weren't that catastrophic and were based on studying what happened to the earth and lifeforms the last times the poles flipped.

What was catastrophic then and now could be quite different.

Did prior civilizations that endured this have 100 story skyscrapers and cities with millions of people inhabiting them? Current population density and building architecture could make a widespread event more costly in terms of human life then in generations past.