Magnetic Field Reversal - is it about to flip?

[glend]

News ltd (who always bring us the best scare mongering), is carrying the story

http://www.news.com.au/technology/science/strange-anomaly-in-the-earths-magnetic-field-could-signal-a-pole-reversal/news-story/01feb756d498c24f3f2693e815c1d49d


about an increasingly concerning anomaly in the magnetic field which may indicate an approaching field polarity flip. Located beneath South Atlantic the core polarity has weakened and reversed (over the last 160 yrs) the extended magnetosphere substantially. Interesting article, worth a read.

Now what does this mean to my SCP alignment? Probably nothing if your on a pier in the observatory right now, as the CP should be unaffected by a flip. But it would bugger up declination figures, and potentially make all new compass based initial field or backyard alignments a mess, i would imagine. As it would take some time to reach a new equilibrium point the instability of the magnetic pole could last awhile. Should not affect plate solved alignments, but some of the apps require a mount to be within 2 degrees of the CP (like Sharpcap PA).
And then there are the potential health risks of being left exposed to radiation if you happen to find yourself under a weak spot. Raise the Shields!:shrug:

So anyone care to suggest what other things a polarity reversal, or a wandering pole, could affect?

[JA]

Changes in the Earth's Magnetosphere (it's magnitude, not necessarily it's polarity) can affect Cosmic Ray absorbption/tramsmission in our atmosphere as our magnetosphere is protective for these and other charged particles, solar wind , etc... This in turn, according to evidence from (Name ????) Svensmark and his team, will affect cloud seeding and growth, which in turn can change weather patterns / climate, the earth's energy budget, heat transfer .....

I will link the Svensmark paper if I can find it later

Maybe we will be photographing The or at least an Aurora in Melbourne.

Best
JA

[bojan]

Some more details are here:
http://principia-scientific.org/strong-evidence-that-svensmark-s-solar-cosmic-ray-theory-of-climate-is-correct/

[JA]

That's him. He should win a Nobel Prize for his discovery. Unfortunately he never will as the establishment don't like what he's had to say.

Best
JA

[Atmos]

Considering that the magnetic poles move every year a field reversal won't really cause any issues with finding the SCP as it won't be moving.

It is a very interesting topic however!