magnetic field that makes human life possible on Earth.. A little doom porn for mankind ?

(Reuters) - The European Space Agency on Friday launched three satellites it hopes will help understand why the magnetic field that makes human life possible on Earth appears to be weakening.

The satellites, comprising ESA's Swarm project, were launched from Russia's Plesetsk Cosmodrome on a Rockot vehicle at 7.02 a.m. EST and were placed in near-polar orbit at an altitude of 490 kilometers (304 miles) about 91 minutes later.

www.reuters.com...

Data that Swarm is due to collect for the next four years will help improve scientists’ relatively blurry understanding of the magnetic field that shields life on Earth from deadly solar radiation and helps some animals migrate. Scientists say the magnetosphere is weakening and could all but disappear in as little as 500 years as a precursor to flipping upside down. It has happened before – the geological record suggests the magnetic field has reversed every 250,000 years, meaning that, with the last event 800,000 years ago, another would seem to be overdue. While the effects are hard to predict, the consequences may be enormous.

theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com...

May happen as quickly as 500 years ? I won't be around unless reincarnation works..

I suppose well stocked underground bunkers and hydroponic food production might work for a while but you have to wonder how long the magnetic field will be ineffective for shielding the earth from solar radiation?
A video on the new satellites and the Geo magnetic field

I think I'll start worrying when scientists have more than a blurry understanding

reply to post by 727Sky


No no no, silly.

It's not really doom porn unless you toss in that the magnetic north pole is migrating faster now too.


You're not very good at this doom porn stuff, are ya ?

CranialSponge
reply to post by 727Sky

 

No no no, silly.

It's not really doom porn unless you toss in that the magnetic north pole is migrating faster now too.


You're not very good at this doom porn stuff, are ya ?

Well Golly Gee at least I tried !

You are right though I am not really good at the doom porn presentation.

The magnetic field you speak of does seem to be running in afterburner these last 50 or so years. Some Airport runways which are designated by the magnetic course have had to be repainted due to their course heading being outside of acceptable parameters.

I honestly do not know of a defense for our magnetic shield going down. It would be worse than the Enterprise being attacked by Cloaked Romulan war birds when the shields were down.... not pretty. Kirk and Spock were always able to come up with a fix so maybe we should write the writers of Star trek and see if they can come up with something ? ...

Of course, this happens fairly predictably on a geologic time scale. It's not the first, it won't be the last, and it's not associated with mass extinctions. So I probably won't sweat this one.

reply to post by 727Sky


Meh, we're probably better off just directly calling the great gawd himself: William Shatner

And if that doesn't work... Chuck Norris.



But seriously, if our magnetic field is driving towards a weakening phase before it self-corrects, we really are screwed. At least for a while.



... yet another reason for me to stock up on beer, bacon, and cheese.

*sigh*

Bedlam
Of course, this happens fairly predictably on a geologic time scale. It's not the first, it won't be the last, and it's not associated with mass extinctions. So I probably won't sweat this one.

That is what I thought with regards to pole reversal. The magnet pole reversal is one thing and not connected to a mass extinction event; The article and the satellites are to observe and measure the collapse of the magnetic field of good old planet earth... The two events should not be confused in that they are not the same.

727Sky

Bedlam
Of course, this happens fairly predictably on a geologic time scale. It's not the first, it won't be the last, and it's not associated with mass extinctions. So I probably won't sweat this one.

That is what I thought with regards to pole reversal. The magnet pole reversal is one thing and not connect to a mass extinction event; The article and the satellites are to observe and measure the collapse of the magnetic field of good old planet earth... The two events should not be confused in that they are not the same.

It collapses just before it flips. It does this every time it reverses. Similar to what the Sun does every 11 years. The pole wandering/splitting is part of it too.

Speaking of mass extinctions...

Not necessarily associated, but most mass extinction events are admittedly not very well understood either:

Over 98% of documented species are now extinct,[2] but extinction occurs at an uneven rate. Based on the fossil record, the background rate of extinctions on Earth is about two to five taxonomic families of marine invertebrates and vertebrates every million years. Marine fossils are mostly used to measure extinction rates because of their superior fossil record and stratigraphic range compared to land organisms.

Since life began on Earth, several major mass extinctions have significantly exceeded the background extinction rate. The most recent, the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, which occurred approximately 66 million years ago (Ma), was a large-scale mass extinction of animal and plant species in a geologically short period of time. In the past 540 million years there have been five major events when over 50% of animal species died. Mass extinctions seem to be a Phanerozoic phenomenon, with extinction rates low before large complex organisms arose.

(millions of years ago) - The blue graph shows the apparent percentage (not the absolute number) of marine animal genera becoming extinct during any given time interval. It does not represent all marine species, just those that are readily fossilized.

It's still argued that there has been anywhere from 5 - 20 mass extinctions in the past 540 million years... with just as many theories on what may have caused them.

There is still debate about the causes of all mass extinctions. In general, large extinctions may result when a biosphere under long-term stress undergoes a short-term shock.[32] An underlying mechanism appears to be present in the correlation of extinction and origination rates to diversity. High diversity leads to a persistent increase in extinction rate; low diversity to a persistent increase in origination rate. These presumably ecologically controlled relationships likely amplify smaller perturbations (asteroid impacts, etc.) to produce the global effects observed

Wiki



I'm guessing there's probably numerous reasons for both minor and major mass extinctions in the past.

Who's to say a magnetic flip might not be attributed to one or two ?

A brief complete reversal, known as the Laschamp event, occurred only 41,000 years ago during the last glacial period. That reversal lasted only about 440 years with the actual change of polarity lasting around 250 years. During this change the strength of the magnetic field dropped to 5% of its present strength. Brief disruptions that do not result in reversal are called geomagnetic excursions.

Wiki

I think the big question is: Are they really able to determine how many and how often magnetic reversals have occurred in the past ? And what if any, is the side effects when this reversal occurs ? Nobody was around to write down the observations... Hell, even just tidal influence and oceans rising (for 250 years) would really screw humanity for that time period.

CranialSponge


I think the big question is: Are they really able to determine how many and how often magnetic reversals have occurred in the past ? And what if any, is the side effects when this reversal occurs ? Nobody was around to write down the observations... Hell, even just tidal influence and oceans rising (for 250 years) would really screw humanity for that time period.

Answer - yes, pretty much. The reversals are laid down in rocks like a recording.

Why would you think tides would be affected by the Earth's magnetic field reversing? Or ocean levels?

If the earths magnetic field does weaken will that cause global warming,,,& what tax can I pay to stop it ??

NOVA video claims earths magnetic field is rapidly fading...

Bedlam

CranialSponge


I think the big question is: Are they really able to determine how many and how often magnetic reversals have occurred in the past ? And what if any, is the side effects when this reversal occurs ? Nobody was around to write down the observations... Hell, even just tidal influence and oceans rising (for 250 years) would really screw humanity for that time period.

Answer - yes, pretty much. The reversals are laid down in rocks like a recording.

Why would you think tides would be affected by the Earth's magnetic field reversing? Or ocean levels?

Yep kinda lost me on the "Tide Thing" but otherwise it was a good ride.

There is a theory on how the continents can slip around like buggers on a greased cue ball (rapid occurrence) but it has never been proven to exist or to have happened before.

Robert Felix on C2C about pole shift and the 11,500 year equinox cycle.. Magnetic field has decline 2/3 in the last 2000 years. According to Felix volcanos, earthquakes, tsunamis etc etc will increase during a pole shift transition. Another interesting finding is all the underwater volcanos.. You will never guess how many they (NOAA) believe there are today; no wonder the lower levels of the oceans are warming..?


The force field/magnetic field of earth and it's loss or rapid fade by NOVA television (following video), which says, if the field is lost we of earth are not gonna like it; if the magnetosphere of earth is lost we will lose our atmosphere and the earth will look like Mars in a few million years. Luckily when the pole flips and the magnetosphere is almost lost the best estimates are it will only last a few 1000 years... The Atmosphere should survive with minimal loss and other than increased cancer rates so will mankind. .

Mars surveyor helped explain their findings which are now applied to Earth with regards to the latest theories.

The rate of decline of our magnetosphere has over the last 12,000 years had shown a rapid decrease in the last 300. Excellent video of the process with the latest findings.


I see Blowback posted the video already.. Thanks, certainly worth a watch IMO.

reply to post by Bedlam

Why would you think tides would be affected by the Earth's magnetic field reversing? Or ocean levels?

Earth's magnetic field affects ocean flow... currents. And vice versa. Our iron core isn't the only thing producing magnetics.

Water's positive and negative ions from its flows are pushed in different directions causing large swaths of positive and negative magnetic fields within the oceans.

The largest of these fields are found where the tides are the highest.

What's to say some of these fields can't trump the moon's gravitational pull to some degree, or at the very least, cause some chaos within them ?

For all we know, climate change induced changing of ocean currents (thus positive/negative ion flows) could be what's causing our magnetic field to wane away...

Even the slightest change to any of the above could cause problems for the millions of people living on coastlines.


That's what I mean when I say "tides and ocean levels".

I don't literally mean the tides completely going bonkers.

CranialSponge
reply to post by Bedlam

 

Earth's magnetic field affects ocean flow... currents. And vice versa. Our iron core isn't the only thing producing magnetics.

Water's positive and negative ions from its flows are pushed in different directions causing large swaths of positive and negative magnetic fields within the oceans.

Well, you *might* get some charge separation to a very small degree in flowing salt water. If it was really moving. But not a lot - the Earth's field is only about 30 microTeslas. You can only get so much separation with that, and only then if the current is in exactly the right direction. The charges won't want to separate, you see, and the field is so small and the average speed so low you aren't going to get wholesale swathes of totally ionized seawater.

There is a secondary magnetic effect as the separated charges try to get back together and do so in a somewhat constrained way, I think for sea water it's on the order of 100 nT. You might be able to detect it with a very very good magnetometer. But it's not the sort of thing that's going to be sucking ships over.

What's to say some of these fields can't trump the moon's gravitational pull to some degree, or at the very least, cause some chaos within them ?

30 microTeslas action on ocean water that's NOT moving is zero. On sea water that's moving at several Mach, you might make a case for something observable, maybe, but a few feet per second, no. THAT'S what's to say.

The force is pretty straightforward to calculate. It's amazingly small. There's a c^^2 in the denominator.

For all we know, climate change induced changing of ocean currents (thus positive/negative ion flows) could be what's causing our magnetic field to wane away...

Except that the magnetic field reversals and excursions don't line up with huge climatic changes in the past.

Bedlam

CranialSponge
reply to post by Bedlam

 

Earth's magnetic field affects ocean flow... currents. And vice versa. Our iron core isn't the only thing producing magnetics.

Water's positive and negative ions from its flows are pushed in different directions causing large swaths of positive and negative magnetic fields within the oceans.

Well, you *might* get some charge separation to a very small degree in flowing salt water. If it was really moving. But not a lot - the Earth's field is only about 30 microTeslas. You can only get so much separation with that, and only then if the current is in exactly the right direction. The charges won't want to separate, you see, and the field is so small and the average speed so low you aren't going to get wholesale swathes of totally ionized seawater.

There is a secondary magnetic effect as the separated charges try to get back together and do so in a somewhat constrained way, I think for sea water it's on the order of 100 nT. You might be able to detect it with a very very good magnetometer. But it's not the sort of thing that's going to be sucking ships over.

What's to say some of these fields can't trump the moon's gravitational pull to some degree, or at the very least, cause some chaos within them ?

30 microTeslas action on ocean water that's NOT moving is zero. On sea water that's moving at several Mach, you might make a case for something observable, maybe, but a few feet per second, no. THAT'S what's to say.

The force is pretty straightforward to calculate. It's amazingly small. There's a c^^2 in the denominator.

For all we know, climate change induced changing of ocean currents (thus positive/negative ion flows) could be what's causing our magnetic field to wane away...

Except that the magnetic field reversals and excursions don't line up with huge climatic changes in the past.

Hmm... I understand what you're saying and it does make sense in terms of ocean-generated magnetic's lesser strengths (5 to 8 nT ?) vs the main source caused by our core's magma flow, BUT...

The reason why I brought this all up is because the inner core theory still doesn't fully explain fluctuations to our magnetosphere (like what we're observing now) or even full-blown pole reversal for that matter, or the South Atlantic Anomaly, crustal anomalies, etc.

But I do recall reading somewhere a few years back that some of these concentrated areas (swaths, heh) of separated cations/anions in the ocean have been measured to be as large as 1000 kms in width from the latest satellite readings... which to me is no small cookie crumb. And thus, tells me there must be more to the story than what little we've been able to read from magnetometers up to this point.

So in my mind, there's got to be other factors involved in addition to just molten iron flow. And the only thing I can come up with (besides our obvious solar magnetic relationship) is the possibility that perhaps ocean magnetics does actually play a larger role... And if so, then it should also have some sort of effect in the overall scheme of things... For every action, there's a reaction per se.

And if that's the case, then surely ocean movements/levels would be affected by a magnetic pole reversal (not to mention the transitional period prior). Gravity be damned.



AKA: One big circular dynamic.

Otherwise, what the hell else could be causing our geomagnetosphere to be fading away (yet again) before it (yet again) self-corrects ??

Except that the magnetic field reversals and excursions don't line up with huge climatic changes in the past.

Actually that's not entirely true.

There's quite a bit of correlation between earth's magnetic changes and various ice ages that have occurred over the past 200+ million years based on ocean floor sediments. It's quite commonly accepted. But that's as far as it goes because what's still not clear is whether or not past climate changes actually had an effect on the magnetosphere (or even if it's the other way around)... and also whether or not it's just simply a correlation and nothing more.

But it still gives food for thought nonetheless.




I'm just simply tossing all kinds of thought processes out there to see if something sticks, is all.

The subject of magnetism/electromagnetism from both a terrestrial and cosmic viewpoint fascinates me to no end.


... not to mention Einstein's conundrum with his Grand Unified Theory, but that's a whole other thread.

Maybe the Earth's field dwindling/reversing is tied to a falloff of Solar output related to the Solar magnetic field/sunspot count being really low. In which case, warm up the popcorn, because this cycle's off to a dead start as well. And there WAS that sunspot minimum/cold wave thing a few hundred years ago...

Bedlam
Maybe the Earth's field dwindling/reversing is tied to a falloff of Solar output related to the Solar magnetic field/sunspot count being really low. In which case, warm up the popcorn, because this cycle's off to a dead start as well. And there WAS that sunspot minimum/cold wave thing a few hundred years ago...

Meh.

I don't think the sun has been in a steady funk since the 1980's which is when this whole "magnetic field is weakening" thing kicked in.

CranialSponge

Bedlam
Maybe the Earth's field dwindling/reversing is tied to a falloff of Solar output related to the Solar magnetic field/sunspot count being really low. In which case, warm up the popcorn, because this cycle's off to a dead start as well. And there WAS that sunspot minimum/cold wave thing a few hundred years ago...

Meh.

I don't think the sun has been in a steady funk since the 1980's which is when this whole "magnetic field is weakening" thing kicked in.

Why does the Sun flip every 11 years or so? That might be the same sort of process.