Earth’s magnetic field could flip within a human lifetime

[n2doc]

Imagine the world waking up one morning to discover that all compasses pointed south instead of north.

It’s not as bizarre as it sounds. Earth’s magnetic field has flipped – though not overnight – many times throughout the planet’s history. Its dipole magnetic field, like that of a bar magnet, remains about the same intensity for thousands to millions of years, but for incompletely known reasons it occasionally weakens and, presumably over a few thousand years, reverses direction.

Now, a new study by a team of scientists from Italy, France, Columbia University and the University of California, Berkeley, demonstrates that the last magnetic reversal 786,000 years ago actually happened very quickly, in less than 100 years – roughly a human lifetime.

“It’s amazing how rapidly we see that reversal,” said UC Berkeley graduate student Courtney Sprain. “The paleomagnetic data are very well done. This is one of the best records we have so far of what happens during a reversal and how quickly these reversals can happen.”

more

http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2014/10/14/earths-magnetic-field-could-flip-within-a-human-lifetime/

[NV Whino]

1. Orwell was right

Up is down.

[belzabubba333]

2. does that mean that water swirling down the drain will go the opposite direction ?

what's that the Coriolis effect ?spelling probably butchered)

[Fumesucker]

4. That has to do with conservation of angular momentum

Same thing as when a skater pulls their arms in during a spin and speeds up, as the water gets close to the center of the drain the angular momentum imparted by the rotation of the Earth is conserved and the rotation speeds up as the water approaches the center of the container.

The effect is strongest at the poles and basically nil at the equator.

[Kablooie]

3. If it takes 100 years, every day the compass will point a different direction.

Magnetic north would be at the equator at some point.