... earth's magnetic poles flip?

Massive earthquakes, rapidly changing climate and the extinction of species. All of those are consequences the earth’s population might has to face, when North goes south.

Throughout its existence earth already was confronted with hundreds of pole reversals, the last one being during Stone Age, 780,000 years ago.

So what’s the reason for all of that? Pole reversals are triggered, when patches of iron atoms, which are located in the earth’s outer core, reverse align themselves. As soon as the number of reversed patches outweighs the rest of the core, the earth’s magnetic field flips.

There is evidence, which suggests that earth is undergoing the early stages of another pole reversal right now.

The real question is though, what will actually happen if the magnetic poles flip? Will the continents be torn apart or is mankind in for more trivial changes?

There is one thing which will be affected for sure. Technology.

Even now, solar storm, which can be imagined as sudden flashes of increased brightness of the sun, damage our satellites, resulting in power outages and interrupted radio communications. Such events will eventually increase if the earth’s magnetic field and with it, its shielding function becomes significantly weaker.

The impairment of the magnetic field and the eventual reversal would also disorient all species which rely on geomagnetism for navigation. This would include bees, salmon, turtles, pigeons and even bacteria would be affected. Nobody can say how those species would cope with such drastic changes.

The most far-reaching change we will probably come across is the decrease of the total field intensity.  It takes about 1,000 to 10,000 years for the earth’s magnetic field to reverse. Before its realignment, it greatly diminishes however.

It is a slow process, during which the field loses its strength. It is also possible that the field becomes more complex during that time and shows more than two poles, before it builds up in strength again and re-aligns.

According to scientists, the phase in which the field is weak, has the hardest affects on those living on earth.

A strong magnetic field usually helps to protect earth from the sun’s blasts of radiation. Particles which are associated with coronal mass ejections, large expulsions of plasma and magnetic field from the sun’s corona, which hurtle directly toward our loved planet, can be usually blocked by earth’s magnetic field. In a situation where the field is weak, the shielding is less efficient.

Due to the growing reverse-aligned patch in the liquid core deep under Brazil and the South Atlantic the earth’s geomagnetic field is in the process of debilitation at the moment. For the last 160 years the strength of the field has been decreasing at an alarming rate, leaving us to speculate whether or not we are heading toward a reversal.

Even if mankind has to face another reversal in the future, the process will span over the next thousands of years, giving us time to adjust to the inevitable changes.