#geomagnetic

[vox-anglosphere]

The northern skies have been dancing earlier than usual this year..

[radicool-kids]

Rare Aurora Australis

[389]

[thefirststarr]

Colourful auroras erupted unexpectedly a few years ago, with green aurora appearing near the horizon and brilliant bands of red aurora high overhead. The Moon lit the foreground of this scene, while familiar stars could be seen in the distance. The astrophotographer shot this image mosaic in the field of White Dome Geyser in Yellowstone National Park in the western USA. Sure enough, just after midnight, the geyser erupted -- spraying a stream of water and vapor many meters into the air. Geyser water is heated to steam by scalding magma several kilometers below, and rises through rock cracks to the surface. About half of all known geysers occur in Yellowstone National Park.

Image Credit & Copyright: Robert Howell

[wayti-blog]

Birds Can “Read” the Earth’s Magnetic Signature to Navigate Back on Course

Research shows for the first time, how birds displaced beyond their normal migratory route are able to navigate back to their route and gives us an insight into how they accomplish this feat. Birdwatchers get very excited when a 'rare' migratory bird makes landfall having been blown off-course and

[earthstory]

Flip Flops during the Jurassic

We are familiar with the Earth’s geomagnetic field and how it acts as a shield, protecting us from magnetic storms from the sun. Evidence of such storms can be witnessed during spectacular shows in the night sky in the northern and southern latitudes producing the Aurora borealis and the Aurora Australis, respectively (http://on.fb.me/1MfWBmb).

This geomagnetic field is the physical property of the Earth that enables magnetic compasses to point towards the north-pole. However, this has not been the case throughout our planet’s history. The polarity of the Earth’s geomagnetic field has undergone reversals – yes, our hiking compasses would point towards the south-pole during such periods. The geomagnetic field is a dynamic property that has the potential to change from milliseconds to millions of years. In 1906, geophysicists Bernard Brunhes and Motonori Matuyama identified the last time a geomagnetic reversal occurred – 780,000 years ago and named it the Brunhes-Matuyama reversal. Today, scientists are curious to understand reversals during the Jurassic period (145 – 200 million years ago), when a peculiar anomaly occurred. Scientists originally thought that during this period, no geomagnetic reversals happened. However, recent data from the volcanic sea floors of the Pacific Ocean reveals a different story.

Previously, measurements of the Earth’s magnetic field were carried out by towing magnetometers on a research vessel along the volcanic sea floors. This did not reveal sufficient information from deeper and harder to reach ocean areas. However, these days with a giant leap in underwater technology available for scientific study, scientists use autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) to reach parts of the volcanic sea floors that have been out of reach previously.

The data using new technology reveals that geomagnetic reversals were ‘flipping and flopping’ so fast that it did not regain full strength as of today’s geomagnetic strength. This detail went unnoticed previously. The low strength of the geomagnetic field is distinctive to the Jurassic period and unique to the history of the Earth’s geomagnetic reversal. Understanding this period of the geomagnetic field’s behavior provides important data and clues for computer simulations (photo) to predict future reversals. This is a story how advances in technology aid in deeper understanding of our dynamic planet.

Nate

Image Credit: Gary A Glatzmeier http://bit.ly/1MMzkht

Source: http://1.usa.gov/1NTpdEv

[didanawisgi]

Scientists warn Earth's magnetic North Pole is moving erratically

Researchers say the magnetic North Pole is 'skittering' away from Canada, towards Siberia.

“Earth's magnetic fields are shifting - and scientists are unsure why.

Researchers say the magnetic North Pole is  'skittering' away from Canada, towards Siberia.

The problem has got so bad, researchers around the world are scrambling to update a global model of the fields.

Called the World Magnetic Model, it underlies all modern navigation, from the systems that steer ships at sea to Google Maps on smartphones.

The most recent version of the model came out in 2015, and it was supposed to last until 2020.

However, researchers say the  magnetic field is changing so rapidly that they have to fix the model urgently.  

It was due to be updated on the 15th January, but due to the US Government shutdown, that has already been delayed until the 30th.

The magnetic field is in a permanent state of flux.

Magnetic north wanders, and every few hundred thousand years the polarity flips so that a compass would point south instead of north.  

'The error is increasing all the time,' Arnaud Chulliat, a geomagnetist at the University of Colorado Boulder and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) National Centers for Environmental Information, told Nature.

'In early 2018, as part of our regular assessment of the WMM, we found that the model exceeded its specification for declination only three years into the five-year WMM cycle,' he told the American Geophysical Union meeting.

'We investigated this error and tracked it down to the combined effect of a global geomagnetic acceleration pulse occurring in 2015-2016, and a fast-changing magnetic field in the North polar area.”

[beachdiva90]

New photo by Lisa Small

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