Earth's Magnetic field is weakening

[bdewoody]

I watched a documentary tonight on the National Geographic Channel about observations that indicate the earth's magnetic field is weakening in spots (the south Atlantic ocean) which may be an indication that the poles are about to switch. This weakening is severe enough that engineers at NASA have to switch off Hubbles electronics when it passes over this area. The bad news is the area of weakness is growing and doing so a lot faster than scientists had predicted. The good news is we had nothing to do with it (not really that good).

The program went on to outline the adverse effects that a weakening magnetosphere will have on life on earth, especially us.

I haven't seen any discussion here on the subject so I figured I'd get something started. I have a question based on other programs I have watched concerning cosmic rays and the weather. Could this weakening og our magnetic field have an effect on the weather and if so what kind of effect.

[R1]

I brought up the large breach in the magnetosphere recently discovered, downstairs in free space:

It is definitely interesting, with the solar maximums and all kinds of things happening.
the post is here for reference :

http://www.space.com/common/forums/viewtopic.php?p=389898#p389898


(I'm not sure if this giant breach (bigger than earth's diameter?) is the same weakening you're
asking about, is it?)

[bdewoody]

It's probably related but the details of your post were not specifically mentioned in the documentary I watched tonight. They were talking mainly of an area in the South Atlantic of several thousand square miles where the magnetic field has weakened or disappeared. This anomaly can't be expalined by any of the current theories about how the earth's magnetic field works. But they are afraid it may be a precursor to a general weakening of the earth's magnetic field prior to a pole flip. This has the potential to be more harmful to humans than many of the other problems we are facing.

[MeteorWayne]

This is really old news, did you catch the copyright date on the Nat Geo Documentry?

We discussed this many times here even in the pre pluck days.

The SAO has been known about for decades...if you look at the ISS or Shuttle map in the control room during a mission you will see it outlined. Sounds like a typical hype documentry.
Since it's a subject I'm curious about and have been following for years, every once in a while I try and dig up some newer data on the magnetic field strength. The last thing I saw in a journal was more than 5 years ago. I've never found a good source for real time (like even for the last year) data about field strength across the surface.

[bdewoody]

No I didn't notice the copyright. It seems to me this subject would warrant more real time attention somewhere on the internet. Something like the earthquake data or sunspot activity sites. It looked like to me a continuing reduction of the earth's magnetic field would have a greater impact on human activity than some of the other disaster scenarios.

[MeteorWayne]

The problem in the current "Hype the moment" environment is that the changes are too small to make headlines every month, or year. So it's not really a "hype" story, it's rather one that needs to be considered by those interested in real science. Which as we all know, is extremely boring in the "headline a week" world.

Check back in a year or two. In the menatime , to quote HHGTTG:

"Don't Panic"

[bdewoody]

I'm not a panicy type of person esp. over things no one can do anything about.

[R1]

The breach discovered approximately a year ago
and described in the thread linked above, may be larger than earth's diameter (iirc).
If so, then I'm guessing that it's likely high above the earth's surface, and large enough to make it to a scientific
article.
The approaching strong solar maximum cycle 24 may coincide with a time when
earth's shields are down (iirc).

[bdewoody]

After hearing that they have to shut down Hubble's electronics when it's orbital path takes it over the area of the south atlantic where the magnetic field is weakest I began wondering if they have to take special precautions when the ISS flies over the same region. Also have the scientisits on board the ISS been able to detect the weakened magnetic field?

[MeteorWayne]

Again, the SAA is not new:


"Since its initial discovery in the late 1950s..."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Atlantic_Anomaly