Are the Earth’s Magnetic Poles

Flipping?
Triggerfish
Feb 10 ·
From Medium

The Earth’s Magnetic Field. Image NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (Public Domain)

Almost everyone has heard of the northern lights. People now

book their vacations to Iceland and Norway in the winter to be
able to see them. There are also the lesser-known southern
lights. Both phenomena are known as the Aurora Borealis and
Aurora Australis. But have you ever wondered how they are
created?

You see the Earth has a magnetic field — created because our
internally active planet has a dynamo spinning away deep
below its surface. To understand this magnetic field we have to
start with what the Earth is made of. Its innermost layer is the
solid iron core (the outer edge of which is about 5,150
kilometers below the surface).

Internal Structure of the Earth (Wikimedia Commons)

Then comes the outer core — this is a fluid layer made of iron
and nickel lying above the solid inner core, at about 2,890
kilometers below the planet’s surface. On top of the outer core
is the mantle, which is composed of silicate rocks, rich in iron
and magnesium. It is primarily solid but behaves as a viscous
fluid over geological time. So, we have the solid inner core, the
fluid outer core, the mantle and then the crust. Convection of
the mantle generated by the Earth’s rotation allows the
tectonic plates of the final layer — the crust — to move and
crash into each other, and that’s how we get earthquakes and
volcanoes.
The magnetic field on the other hand is created by the motion
of convection currents of the fluid outer-core and this
magnetic field extends outward like spaghetti. Its extent is
known as the magnetosphere, reaching tens of thousands of
kilometers into space. Just as we have the geographic north
and south poles, the magnetic field gives us the magnetic
poles, which although usually located near the geographic
poles, are not the same. They are at an angle of around 11
degrees from them.

Schematic illustration of Earth’s magnetic field. Credits: Peter Reid, The University of
Edinburgh/ NASA

Let’s go over the different poles that the Earth has. We have
the geographic poles, defined by the spot where all the human
made longitudinal lines meet and which are also the points
where the axis on which the earth rotates meets its surface.
Then we have the magnetic poles generated by the magnetic
field of the Earth. The Magnetic North Pole is the location
where the planet’s magnetic field points vertically downwards.
If a compass were used in the Magnetic North Pole, it will
point downwards toward the center of the Earth. This will be
the opposite at the Magnetic South Pole.

Our magnetic field is extremely useful to us; it protects us from

harmful solar winds, which blast us with the Sun’s radiation
and solar particles. The field also helps in navigation, and it
may have even played a crucial role in the evolution of life.

Now, let’s talk about how the the auroras — or northern and
southern lights — come about. When solar winds reach the
Earth they hit the magnetic field and the charged particles in
both the solar winds and the magnetosphere are disturbed.
This results in that the particles becoming ionized, emitting
light of varying colors. Red and green are oxygen, and blue is
nitrogen — yellow and pink are a mix of these. There is also of
course infrared and UV auroras but we cannot see them with
the naked eye.
Aurora Borealis and Australis Poster by 14jbella Wikimedia Commons

Now while these are magnificent sights, the main thing that
the magnetic field does is protect us from harmful solar
radiation by deflecting solar wind particles. Life would not
exist on this planet if we did not have the magnetosphere. The
planet Mars has no magnetosphere because its outer core
stopped moving; as a result it lost all of its atmosphere and
became uninhabitable. But here is the fascinating bit: The
Earth’s magnetic poles move around.

The exact position of the Magnetic North Pole was calculated

for the first time in 1831. By 1904, it had moved 50 km (31 mi).
In 2001, the Geological Survey of Canada calculated its average
position to be 81.3 degrees North by 110.8 degrees West.

Recently, it has been determined that the magnetic north pole

has been moving East at an unusually fast pace, heading from
the Canadian Arctic toward Siberia at a speed of 55 km (34
miles) per year, although it has slowed recently to 40 km (25
miles) per year. This unusually fast pace led to an earlier than
expected update to the World Magnetic Model (which is our
mathematical foundation system for navigation). Usually, the
model is updated every 5 years with the last one updated in
2015 but due to the new position, it had to be updated in
February 2019 instead of 2020, so that our communications
and navigation systems can be up to date.

World Magnetic Model (NOAA)

Why is the Magnetic North Pole moving? The answer is that it

has always moved, primarily due to the pull and push of the
magnetic field. It’s just that this time it moved a little faster
than expected. The reason for this is not really known. It could
be because the jet of the outer-core is becoming stronger. Or as
Phil Livermore from the University of Leeds highlighted at the
American Geophysical Union meeting in 2018, it’s a result of a
“tug of war” between the two patches of magnetic field; one
under Canada and one under Siberia. Historically, the
Canadian arm was stronger but now it seems the Siberian arm
is taking over.

As mentioned before, the poles have always moved. In fact,

there have been times in the Earth’s geological history that
they have flipped completely. We know this through rock
analysis, which tells us that in the last 20 million years or so,
the poles have flipped several times. In 2019, a tree was
discovered in New Zealand, which also contains the record of
the magnetic field reversal. This tree — called Agathis australis
— (kauri in the Maori language), was found in New Zealand’s
North Island. Carbon dating revealed that it lived around
41,000 to 42,500 years ago. And it shows that the magnetic
field almost reversed at this point, though it did not do a
complete flip.

The trend for complete reversal is every 200,000 to 300,000

years, with the last full reversal taking place around 780,000
years ago. So, we are due for one but this process is
unpredictable, so no one can tell for sure. The range can be
100,000 years to 50 million years. However, the magnetic
north pole has become weak recently, so you never know.

What will happen if the field does a full reversal? Past polar
flips have been slow, taking place over thousands of years so
nothing dramatic is expected. What will happen is that slowly
but surely, the compass needle will move to align with
wherever the North Pole is. A greater impact is likely to
happen on animals and birds that use the magnetic field to
navigate. They will get confused but there has been life on this
planet for almost 3 billion years and like before, they will
eventually figure it out.

Our main issue will arise if the field continues to get weaker.
This is likely to bring in harmful radiation from the Sun, which
obviously is a cause for concern. And it has been becoming
weaker for about a century or so. In the Southern Hemisphere,
we have a weak spot known as the South Atlantic Anomaly that
causes problems for low-orbiting satellites. However, we don’t
need to panic, because even if it continues to become weaker, it
won’t entirely disappear for billions of years. Historically the
field has weakened and then become stronger again — a
phenomenon known as ‘excursions’.

Another thing that will happen is that the auroras will be

visible at lower latitudes because a weaker field would mean
solar particles would penetrate more into the Earth’s
atmosphere. Of course, with more weakness, there would be
more technical problems for our satellites. Overall though, a
weak field would not be catastrophic for life on Earth and a
complete north south pole reversal would not matter at all. But
when it does happen, I think it will be epic!