The world beneath our feet is still shrouded in mystery. Experts from Denmark and Great Britain decided to detect it using satellites that can measure the planet’s magnetic field. Their mission was successful. They not only gained new knowledge about the dynamics of the Earth’s core, but also found a hot river flowing around it
The Earth’s core is located at a depth of about 3000 kilometers. It consists of a solid core and a shell consisting mainly of hot iron and nickel. Movements and eddies in the liquid metal, along with the Earth’s rotation, generate electric currents. These create a magnetic field that protects us from cosmic rays and the solar wind.
In order to map it, three identical satellites were launched in 2013, the construction of which also involved experts from the Research and Experimental Aviation Institute in Prague. The instruments, collectively called the Swarm, can distinguish the strength, direction and variation of the magnetic field. The obtained data thus allow us to look into the interior of the Earth, similar to how we can estimate where a large stone lies by the ripples in a stream.
A hot river beneath the surface
The international scientific team thus revealed that there is also a river of red-hot iron in the core. It is 420 km wide and 7000 km long. It stretches under Alaska and Siberia and moves towards the European continent.
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When the liquid iron approaches the boundary from both sides, it is pushed to the sides.
Interestingly, the flow of liquid metal has accelerated since 2000. “It runs at a speed of about 50 kilometers per year. This is three times the speed of the outer core material and hundreds of thousands of times the speed of the tectonic plates,” explains Chris Finlay from the Technical University of Denmark.
What exactly controls its movement is not yet known. However, the team believes it is related to the boundary between two different regions in the nucleus. When liquid iron approaches it from both sides, it is pushed to the sides. “Of course you need force to move the material,” says prof. Rainer Hollerbach z University of Leeds. “This could be provided by changes in the magnetic field.”
Earth’s magnetic field
Experts believe that the hot river is at least a million years old. The fact that its speed is changing indicates that we are in a period where the magnetic field is weakening and flipping over. It is a natural process, the reason for which we cannot yet explain. This has happened a total of 171 times over the past 71 million years. The last time was 786,000 years ago.
Source: Youtube
There are no disasters associated with polarity reversal. However, in today’s modern age, there is a threat that it could cause the destruction of the power grid and a problem with satellites. At the same time, the reduction of the magnetic field could lead to an increased incidence of cancer, caused by more intense cosmic radiation.
Resources: www.businessinsider.com, www.sciencealert.com, www.esa.int, www.en.wikipedia.org
2023-12-25 19:51:12
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