We know that many people fear this, but Earth’s magnetic field will not reverse itself just yet. The South Atlantic magnetic field had a strange behavior for as far as 11 million years ago, and it is probably not linked to the reversal of the Earth’s magnetic field.
The magnetic poles of the Earth, which are the base of our navigation, are moving. We need to keep in mind that the magnetic field reverses its polarity every several hundred thousand years – and that’s when the magnetic North Pole resides at the South Pole. The last reversal happened 770,000 years ago, but if something like this were to occur during our lifetime, then it might have a massive impact on our satellites, communication, and navigation.
This strange behavior in the South Atlantic actually is the cause of technical disturbances in satellites and the spacecraft that orbit Earth, and this entire thing left everyone thinking. Astronomers are wondering where it comes from, and if this is a sign of the weakness of the field.
The magnetic field of the Earth protects our atmosphere – and us – from the solar wind, which is basically a stream of charged particles that are coming from the sun. The field is not as stable as it should be, but it has the ability to flip or reverse itself.
We don’t need to worry
However, according to a new study, we have nothing to worry about. Scientists have analyzed some igneous rocks from Saint Helena Island. The records from the rocks that covered 34 volcanic eruptions from the area 11 million years ago showed that the magnetic field for Saint Helena was actually far from the North Pole, as it is now.
The author of the study, Yael Engbers, stated, “Our study provides the first long-term analysis of the magnetic field in this region dating back millions of years. It reveals that the anomaly in the magnetic field in the South Atlantic is not a one-off; similar anomalies existed eight to 11 million years ago.”
