The World's Threatened Polar Reversal of the Earth

Throughout history, the Earth's magnetic poles have reversed direction to hundreds of times. Now the scientists observed a reversal of events began to occur again.

If Earth's magnetic field reversed, compasses would point toward Antarctica. (Picture from: http://www.livescience.com/)

Earth's magnetic poles produced by the iron atoms in the Earth's core which together form a giant magnet. A giant bar magnet in the center of the Earth is what causes a compass needle always point to the north and south poles.

However, the geological record of the soil at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean show the magnetic poles can be reversed by an unknown cause. This change causes a compass needle rotates 180 degrees from its current position.

Supercomputer models of Earth's magnetic field. On the left is a normal dipolar magnetic field. On the right is the sort of complicated magnetic field Earth has leading up to a reversal.  (Picture from: http://www.livescience.com/)

The process takes time reversal was short, about 1.000 to 10.000 years. During that time the Earth's magnetic field weakens. "The earth will have more than two poles of a magnet to collect core strength," said Monika Korte, scientific director of the Niemegk Geomagnetic Observatory in Germany.

The weakening of the magnetic field during the reversal process will affect life on Earth. Understandably, the magnetic field is the Earth's protective shield from harmful attacks cosmic particles coming from space. Is this weakness threaten human safety?

Professor of Geophysics at the University of Rochester, John Tarduno says, without a magnetic field, easily penetrated the Earth's solar storm. Cosmic particles react with the atmosphere to create a large ozone hole over the last 1-10 years. "Diseases of skin cancer will increase," he said.

Image of the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA), the region where Earth's magnetic field is weakest, taken by the ROSAT satellite in the 1990s.  (Picture from: http://www.livescience.com/)

The weakening of the magnetic field as it is also linked by geologists from the Institute of Earth Physics of Paris, Jean-Pierre Valet, with the depreciation of Neanderthal populations in the past.

However, Korte has an opinion different from the two previous investigators for this. According to him, during the reversal process, the atmosphere works as a shield up and brushed off the harmful particles. Therefore, there would be no harmful impact on the human body.

However, he cautioned, communication technology and the power grid becomes vulnerable destroyed by cosmic particles. "It's important for humans find mitigation strategies," said Korte.

Earth's magnetic field reversals happened last time around 780 thousand years ago when humans are in the Stone Age. Over the last 160 years, scientists observed the growth of the seed magnetic field reversals in Brazil and South Atlantic. "Growth is at a dangerous level," says Tarduno. *** [LIVESCIENCE | ANTON WILLIAM | KORAN TEMPO 3794]
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