Mysterious "Geomagnetic Spike" 3,000 Years Ago Challenges Our Understanding of Earth's Interior
Earth’s magnetic field protects life and satellites from the sun’s harmful radiation, but this effect is far from constant
By Christopher Davies, The Conversation US on November 8, 2017
The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research.The Conversation
The Earth’s magnetic field, generated some 3,000km below our feet in the liquid iron core, threads through the whole planet and far into space – protecting life and satellites from harmful radiation from the sun. But this shielding effect is far from constant, as the field strength varies significantly in both space and time.
Over the last century, the field strength has changed relatively slowly: the biggest change is a 10% fall in the southern Atlantic, which is still a large enough effect to cause electronic problems for satellites that have passed through the region. However, new observations and modelling suggest that a much greater change strangely occurred around 1000BC in a much smaller region.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mysterious-geomagnetic-spike-3-000-years-ago-challenges-our-understanding-of-earths-interior/
