Geomagnetic Field Strength Decreases in the South Atlantic: New Study

Earth's magnetic field has been forecasted to flip over in the long-term future as it gradually shifts over time.

This growing concern came after a geomagnetic-deprived mysterious area was discovered over the South Atlantic, which led to the belief of an imminent occurrence of a magnetic polarity reversal.

However, a new study led by scientists from Lund University revisited the area where a geomagnetic field strength has been decreasing.

The Sweden-based scientific team pieced together evidence from as far as 9,000 years pertaining to recurrent ancient geomagnetic field anomalies.

The research claimed that the same area also holds a clue that the event of a complete reversal of the planet's magnetic poles in the future are not completely accurate.

Geomagnetic Field Strength

(Photo : Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)

In a new study published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Lund University researchers found that the Earth's magnetic field strength has decreased by approximately 10% in the past 180 years.

This came after finding that the unusual area in the South Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of South America, has shown a strange weak magnetic field.

It is also the same area where satellites had malfunctioned multiple times in the past.

The researchers mapped anomalies and changes with the said 9,000-year period similar to the one in the South Atlantic.

This mapping included data from volcanic samples and sediment drill cores, which have all proven to be a vital information concerning the Earth's magnetic field.

Also Read: Are the Earth's Magnetic Poles Set to Flip? African Anomaly Gets Scientists Buzzing

Earth's Magnetic Field

The Earth's magnetic or geomagnetic field make up our planet's magnetosphere, which serves as a magnetic shield that protects us from cosmic radiations, charged particles, solar storms, solar winds, and other space weather hazards from the Sun.

The magnetosphere starts from the upper regions of the ionosphere and extends several hundred kilometers into space.

During a solar storm, a disturbance of the magnetosphere causes a geomagnetic storm that disrupts both radio and satellite technology, affecting various technological devices, equipment, vehicles, and aircraft that rely on the said technologies.

While the said field is relatively stable, it is only a matter of time when it becomes unstable.

According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the magnetic poles of the north and the south gradually shifts and even flips directions every 300,000 years.

The flipping geomagnetic poles are a result of the constantly changing forces being generated by our magnetosphere, where the magnetic field itself is in a state of continuous flux over time.

Earth's Core

In an article published on the European Commission (EC) website in December 2018, author Jonathan O'Callaghan cited the Earth's magnetic field has already flipped up to 100 times in the past 20 million years, which left fossilized magnetization of rocks on the planet.

O'Callaghan also emphasized that our magnetic field is mainly produced by the flow of liquid iron inside the Earth's core.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) explains that this phenomenon is created as the Earth's crust contain some form of permanent magnetization and the planetary core itself generates its own magnetic field.

The USGS supports the EC article's assertion that the magnetic field is manifested by the electrically conducting iron, which induces electric currents which generates their own magnetic field.

The process is is self-sustaining but there are no clear scientific explanations until when.

However, the new study about the South Atlantic anomaly highlights the possibility that such decrease in the Earth's magnetic field may stop the predicted magnetic polarity reversal, with reference to the recurrent ancient geomagnetic field anomalies.