Australian National University | 2018 Aug 21
A study on past reversals of Earth’s magnetic field has found that a rapid shift occurred within two centuries – such an event in future would increase our exposure to the Sun’s radiation that may cause trillions of dollars in power and communications systems damage.
The international research team found that magnetic field reversals – whereby the magnetic south pole became the magnetic north pole and vice versa – could happen much more rapidly than the thousands of years previously thought to be needed.
Professor Andrew Roberts from The Australian National University (ANU) said the magnetic field’s strength decreased by about 90 per cent when a field reversal occurred, making the Earth much more vulnerable to the Sun’s radiation. ...
A field reversal would have much more of an effect than the solar storm that hit Earth in 1859. A similar magnitude solar storm today would cause major damage to power grids and communications systems worth trillions of dollars. ...
Multidecadally Resolved Polarity Oscillations During a Geomagnetic Excursion ~ Yu-Min Chou et al
- Proceedings of the NAS (online 20 Aug 2018) DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1720404115