General panicking regarding Magnetosphere reversal

So I watched The Universe (History Channel self shaming) and was slightly alarmed at the prospect of Earth becoming Mars like should we lose our Magnetosphere.
Nasa tells us we don't need to worry that Magnetosphere reversal is so common over the billions of years. We are apparently well overdue having been over 800 000 years since the last one. When on average it has taken place every 200-400K years.

Here is what Nasa says regarding no disruption to earths biology with planetary field changes.

The last time that Earth's poles flipped in a major reversal was about 780,000 years ago, in what scientists call the Brunhes-Matuyama reversal. The fossil record shows no drastic changes in plant or animal life. Deep ocean sediment cores from this period also indicate no changes in glacial activity, based on the amount of oxygen isotopes in the cores. This is also proof that a polarity reversal would not affect the rotation axis of Earth, as the planet's rotation axis tilt has a significant effect on climate and glaciation and any change would be evident in the glacial record.

www.nasa.gov...

Comforting slightly, but tell that to Mars. Once with flowing water and likely ancient life, when it lost its Magnetosphere and the planet pretty much died when solar winds started stripping away Mars atmosphere.
Now I'm not actually at Defcon 1 Doomsday status in regards to a solar storm killing us when the poles shift. I don't think it will as I don't think it will happen at once , But my thoughts are this;

The fossil record shows no great biological change which is great, but life on earth did not rely on electricity as we do now. Will the process of reversal leave us a damaged magnetosphere for a period of days long enough to cause a magnet apocalypse that wipes out our infrastructure that relies so heavily on Electricity?

North is moving over 45 miles a year when just at the beginning of the 20th century it was at a static 10 miles a year. Is the change coming?

Don't panic.

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a reply to: zazzafrazz
I think the point is that "reversal" is not "loss".
"Reversal" is just a change in direction.
On its own, it would not lead to Earth becoming like Mars.

My understanding is that Mars is thought to have had a much smaller molten core than Earth has, and will likely have for a very long time. Mars still has a molten core, there are probably other factors too.

More reading here,
science.time.com...

a reply to: DISRAELI

I agree.

But as I said there is a possibility scientifically that when the reversal happens there may be a serious weakening of the magnetosphere for a few days. It that time, solar flares can make it through. Slight chance and timing is everything, but there IS the possibility of a few days without or minimal protection.

a reply to: smurfy

They have traced the loss of the Mars magnetosphere to the same era that the planet start to ' die ', i.e. loss of atmosphere to the tiny one it has now.

Or so the history channel said

A reversal of polarity and a loss of the magnetosphere are 2 different things.

a reply to: muSSang

They are, but the reversal is suspected may allow for a temporary loss or weakening.

originally posted by: zazzafrazz
a reply to: smurfy

They have traced the loss of the Mars magnetosphere to the same era that the planet start to ' die ', i.e. loss of atmosphere to the tiny one it has now.

Or so the history channel said

I don't think the atmosphere was that big in the first place, I've added a link in my last post.
As for Earth's magnetosphere, here another link,
science.nasa.gov...

It can be breached at any time from the Sun's influence, and probably any old crap that is trapped in the magnetosphere, can be blown back into the atmosphere too.

a reply to: smurfy

I really don't think earth will become Mars, I was being dramatic

It is the destruction of electrical infrastructure that lead me to make this thread. Transformers would be smashed in a solar storm during a weakened magnetosphere yes?

I believe it is said our atmosphere protects us even when the magnetic field doesn't.

Not saying how long it would protect us.

We have cracks here and there... I know that much.

a reply to: MamaJ

With no magnetosphere the solar winds would strip away the atmosphere as it did on Mars.
But that isn't so much what I'm pondering. Im not thinking total loss of magnetosphere, Im think the weakening of it during reversal that may allow solar storms to effectively hit out electric grids

Gloomy I know, but TV is there to make you worry about nothing as usual !

Current thought on Mars magnetosphere and atmosphere loss is that whatever caused the Mariner Valley Rift blew away both.

How do we know for a fact what happened to mars? We don't even know everything about our own planet.

I'm a layperson, so take this with a grain of salt, but my understanding is that magnetosphere reversals take quite some time. They aren't sudden or abrupt events.

For instance, there are briefer, more temporary reversals called excursions which can occur as well. One happened only 41,000 years ago, called the Laschamp event. It took 250 years approximately to transition, and lasted an estimated 440 years.

If that's true, and they happen gradually, it seems likely to my layman's brain that the odds of a species-threatening event of this nature are extremely low.

As always, I could be wrong though.

Peace.

Mars, Venus and Earth lose about a ton of atmosphere every bloomin' hour! That's a lot of gas! Also, lots of electrons escape. Charged particles from the sun are funneled into the upper atmosphere of Earths Polar regions, heating ions which escape into space (polar ion outflow).

Magnetic reversals happen all the time (geologically). From what I've read, there are theories which state that the frequency of magnetic reversals seems to show a correlation with genus-level diversity and oxygen: During a 'superchron' (less frequent magnetic reversals) there is more oxygen mass and more genus-level diversity. There seems to be a correlation between higher magnetic reversal frequency and less oxygen mass/genus-level diversity.

arg... gotta go..
Hope I got that right
here's some links
www.space.com...
Oxygen escape from the Earth during geomagnetic reversals: Implications to mass extinction