Nova: Magnetic Storm

[GutZ]

I don't know if this is the right section for this...I apologize if it's wrong.

 

Nova: Magnetic Storm

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/magnetic/

 

Transcript

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/3016_magnetic.html

 

"There's a region of our planet that no human being has ever visited. No one has ever seen this place, yet what happens here affects every one of us every day of our lives. It's 2,000 miles beneath our feet, the Earth's molten core. Here a vast ocean of liquid iron generates an invisible force, the Earth's magnetic field. It's what makes our compasses point north. But it does a lot more: it helps to keep the Earth a living planet. Our neighbors, Venus and Mars, have only weak magnetic fields, which means they're unprotected from the deadly radiation sweeping through the solar system. The Earth, on the other hand, exists within a vast magnetic cocoon, a force-field that for billions of years has sheltered us on our journey through space.

 

But now scientists have made a startling discovery. It seems there's a storm brewing deep within the Earth, a storm that is weakening our vital magnetic shield."

 

 

Did anyone watch this? Is this possible? I just watched it, and it's the first time really hearing about it except for a SciAm mag.

[insane_alien]

the magnetic field is undergoing a reversal but it is nowhere near as serious or dramatic as it seems to be made out to be. we'll just get some pretty lights in the sky. and the compasses will point the wrong way.

[richard]

I have read a little on this. It was stated that the field reversal takes on average 7,000 years but progresses at different rates acording to latitude :s (invesigaion into sea bed core samples provided this data :s ). What realy caught my attention was that it was stated tha the field strength would drop to 10% of its normal value :|. It may only reach that value at the center of the cycle but it still means our sheild will be all but down for a long time. Have I got this all wrong or what. This is where I got the info from. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/04/040408085209.htm