Showing posts with label Magnetic Field. Show all posts

Sunday, November 29, 2015

News release reports , Earth's magnetic field is not about to flip. Disputing reports of over 1 year ago stating the contrary

Earth's Magnetic Field is Not About to Flip, Like Previously Thought

First Posted: Nov 24, 2015 11:09 AM EST

(Photo : Huapei Wang, with source files courtesy of NASA's Earth Observatory/NOAA/DOD)

Earth's magnetic field is not about to flip. While the intensity of this field has weakened in the last couple hundred of years, researchers have found that this doesn't mean it's about to reverse.

Humans have lived through dips in magnetic field intensity before. However, there are debates about whether reversals of the magnetic field in the distant past had any connection to species extinctions. Today, a magnetic field reversal would have a huge impact due to one very important thing: technology. The magnetic field deflects the solar wind and cosmic rays. This means that with a weaker field, more radiation gets through which can disrupt power grids and satellite communications.

"The field may be decreasing rapidly, but we're not yet down to the long-term average," said Dennis Kent, one of the researchers, in a news release. "In 100 years, the field may even go back the other direction [in intensity]."

Earth's Magnetic Field Flip Could Happen Sooner Than Expected

Changes measured by the Swarm satellite show that our magnetic field is weakening 10 times faster than originally predicted, especially over the Western Hemisphere

By Kelly Dickerson and LiveScience | July 9, 2014

Changes measured by the Swarm satellite over the past 6 months shows that Earth's magnetic field is changing. Shades of red show areas where it is strengthening, and shades of blue show areas that are weakening.
*Credit: ESA/DTU*

Earth's magnetic field, which protects the planet from huge blasts of deadly solar radiation, has been weakening over the past six months, according to data collected by a European Space Agency (ESA) satellite array called Swarm.

The biggest weak spots in the magnetic field — which extends 370,000 miles (600,000 kilometers) above the planet's surface — have sprung up over the Western Hemisphere, while the field has strengthened over areas like the southern Indian Ocean, according to the magnetometers onboard the Swarm satellites — three separate satellites floating in tandem.

The scientists who conducted the study are still unsure why the magnetic field is weakening, but one likely reason is that Earth's magnetic poles are getting ready to flip, said Rune Floberghagen, the ESA's Swarm mission manager. In fact, the data suggest magnetic north is moving toward Siberia.
"Such a flip is not instantaneous, but would take many hundred if not a few thousand years," Floberghagen told Live Science. "They have happened many times in the past."[50 Amazing Facts About Planet Earth]

Saturday, November 16, 2013

The sun’s magnetic field will reverse polarity at some point in the coming weeks, sending ripples to the edge of interstellar space

Sun will 'flip upside down' within weeks, says Nasa

The sun’s magnetic field will reverse polarity at some point in the coming weeks, sending ripples to the edge of interstellar space
The Sun is set to “flip upside down” within weeks as its magnetic field reverses polarity in an event that will send ripple effects throughout the solar system.
Although it may sound like a catastrophic occurrence, there’s no need to run for cover. The sun switches its polarity, flipping its magnetic north and south, once every eleven years through an internal mechanism about which little is understood.
The swap could however cause intergalactic weather fronts such as geomagnetic storms, which can interfere with satellites and cause radio blackouts.
Nasa said in August that the change would happen in three to four months time, but it is impossible to give a more specific date. Scientist won’t know for around another three weeks whether the flip is complete.
The impact of the transfer will be widespread as the sun’s magnetic field exerts influence well beyond Pluto, past Nasa's Voyager probes positioned near the edge of interstellar space.

Read More Here

Monday, August 5, 2013

ScienceCasts: The Sun's Magnetic Field is About to Flip

ScienceAtNASA

Visit http://science.nasa.gov/ for breaking science news.

Something big is happening on the sun. The sun's global magnetic field is about to flip, a sign that Solar Max has arrived.

Monday, July 22, 2013

Solar Activity Monday July 22nd , 2013

Solar wind
speed: 401.2 km/sec
density: 4.0 protons/cm³
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 0107 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: B4 2040 UT Jul21
24-hr: C3 0844 UT Jul21
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2359 UT

Daily Sun: 21 July 13

Sunspot AR1793 has a beta-gamma magnetic field that harbors energy for M-class solar flares. However, the sunspot is quiet. Credit: SDO/HMI

QUIET SUN:

Solar activity is low. The biggest sunspot on the Earthside of the sun, AR1783, has been quiet for days even though it has a 'beta-gamma' magnetic field that harbors energy for M-class solar flares. NOAA forecasters estimate a slim 10% chance that AR1783 will break the quiet with an M-flare on July 21st.