“Anomaly of the South Atlantic”, they discover that the Earth could invert its poles

European scientists discovered that Earth’s magnetic field weakens in South America

<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "A group of european scientists made a surprising discovery. According to his studies, the Earth’s magnetic field – that form of natural protection from cosmic radiation – is weakening. The phenomenon was called “South Atlantic Anomaly” and implies a reduction in the magnetic intensity between Africa and South America. This type of activity is causing major complications on satellites and other spacecraft flying through the area. “Data-reactid =” 20 “> A group of european scientists made a surprising discovery. According to his studies, the Earth’s magnetic field – that form of natural protection from cosmic radiation – is weakening. The phenomenon was called “South Atlantic Anomaly” and implies a reduction in the magnetic intensity between Africa and South America. This type of activity is causing major complications on satellites and other spacecraft flying through the area.

The magnetic field is what protects the Earth not only from cosmic radiation, but also from some particles that the sun emits. In just five years, as the group of specialists observed, a “center of minimal intensity in the area” was formed. This, for the researchers, is a sign that the Earth is heading towards a pole reversal, something that has not happened for 780,000 years. If it occurs, the north and south poles would change places.

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The European Space Agency (ESA) was the agency that extracted data from the agency’s Swarm satellite constellation and was responsible for the surprising discovery. ESA has been studying the magnetic field for several years: Specifically, since late 2013, it has embarked on a mission that includes monitoring the activity of three identical satellites that provide good-quality field figures.

The satellites, which are experiencing technical problems due to this phenomenon, are specifically designed to identify and measure the different magnetic signals that make up the Earth’s magnetic field.

“The new eastern minimum for the South Atlantic Anomaly appeared in the last decade and has been developing vigorously in recent years,” said Jürgen Matzka of the German Geosciences Research Center. “We are very fortunate to have Swarm satellites in orbit to investigate the development of the South Atlantic anomaly. The challenge now is to understand the processes in the Earth’s core that are driving these changes.”

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The weakened field was in the focus of specialists for a long time, so they know that it lost 9% of its intensity in the last 200 years. What was learned now is that the weakness developed further, especially in the area between Africa and South America. For ESA this does not imply any immediate risk: “the decrease in intensity in the South Atlantic that now occurs is within what is considered normal levels of fluctuations,” they said.

Between 1970 and 2020, strength in the said region dropped from around 24,000 nanoteslas to 22,000, according to data collected by Swarm. What is considered puzzling is that the anomaly grew and moved westward at a rate of around 12 mph. According to the researchers’ predictions, given that a center of minimal intensity has formed in southwestern Africa over the past five years, the South Atlantic Anomaly could divide into two separate cells.

One possible explanation for the weakening of the field is that the Earth may be going towards a pole reversal, which has happened in the past. In fact, the researchers say “we are way behind,” since the phenomenon occurs “approximately every 250,000 years” and the last time the poles were reversed on Earth was about 780,000 years ago.

“We have never seen anything like this before,” said lead researcher Phil Livermore, an associate professor of geophysics at the University of Leeds. “Our predictions are that the pole will continue to move towards Siberia, but forecasting the future is a challenge and we cannot be sure,” he told Live Science.

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