I fear I am becoming addicted to the Daily Mail.
From the Daily Mail:
- Earth's magnetic field has weakened by 15 per cent over the last 200 years
- Could be a sign that the planet's north and south poles are about to flip
- If this happens, solar winds could punch holes into the Earth's ozone layer
- This could damage power grids, affect weather and increase cancer rates
- Evidence of flip happening in the past has been uncovered in pottery
- As the magnetic shield weakens, the spectacle of an aurora would be visible every night all over the Earth
Deep within the Earth, a fierce molten
core is generating a magnetic field capable of defending our planet
against devastating solar winds.
The
protective field extends thousands of miles into space and its
magnetism affects everything from global communication to animal
migration and weather patterns.
But
this magnetic field, so important to life on Earth, has weakened by 15
per cent over the last 200 years. And this, scientists claim, could be a
sign that the Earth’s poles are about to flip.
Scroll down for videos...
The Earth's protective field extends thousands
of miles into space and its magnetism affects everything from global
communication to animal migration and weather patterns
Experts believe we're currently overdue a flip, but they're unsure when this could occur.
If a switch happens, we would be exposed to solar winds capable of punching holes into the ozone layer.
The
impact could be devastating for mankind, knocking out power grids,
radically changing Earth’s climate and driving up rates of cancer.
‘This
is serious business’, Richard Holme, Professor of Earth, Ocean and
Ecological Sciences at Liverpool University told MailOnline. ‘Imagine
for a moment your electrical power supply was knocked out for a few
months – very little works without electricity these days.’
The Earth's climate would change
drastically. In fact, a recent Danish study believes global warming is
directly related to the magnetic field rather than CO2 emissions.
The
study claimed that the planet is experiencing a natural period of low
cloud cover due to fewer cosmic rays entering the atmosphere.
Radiation at ground level would
also increase, with some estimates suggesting overall exposure to cosmic
radiation would double causing more deaths from cancer.
Researchers predict that in the event of a flip, every year a hundred thousand
people would die from the increased levels of space radiation.
The magnetosphere is a large area around the
Earth produced by the planet's magnetic field. It presence means that
charged particles of the solar wind are unable to cross the magnetic
field lines and are deflected around the Earth
'Radiation
could be 3-5 times greater than that from the man-made ozone holes.
Furthermore, the ozone holes would be larger and longer-lived,' said Dr Colin Forsyth from the Mullard Space Science Laboratory at UCL....MORE
Meanwhile, there's a 50/50 chance of a big Coronal Mass Ejection today.
From
SpaceWeather:
Daily Sun: 04 Feb
14
Earth-facing sunspot AR1967 has a 'beta-gamma-delta' magnetic field that harbors energy for X-class solar flares. Credit: SDO/HMI
APPROACHING CME: NOAA
forecasters estimate a 25% chance of polar geomagnetic storms on Feb.
4th when a CME is expected to sideswipe Earth's magnetic field. The
glancing impact could spark auroras around the Arctic Circle.
Aurora alerts: text,
voice
CHANCE OF FLARES: NOAA
forecasters estimate an 80% chance of M-flares and a 50% chance of
X-flares on Feb. 4th. The source would be giant sunspot AR1967, shown
here seething with activity in a photo from amateur astronomer Sergio
Castillo of Inglewood, California:
In Castillo's photo, a pair
of magnetic filaments reaches out from the heart of the active region,
where multiple dark cores big enough to swallow Earth are crackling
with flares. "The activity in this region is just amazing," says
Castillo.
AR1967 has an unstable
'delta-class' magnetic field that harbors energy for strong flares and
CMEs. Any eruptions today will surely be Earth-directed as the active
region crosses the center of the solar disk.
Solar flare alerts: text,
voice
Finally, from Mudvayne a very gritty version of King of Pain:
