Earths Magnetic Field About to Flip?

[skierinvermont]

Skier - are you referring to a ground based perspective? I think the following from the perspective of a satellite above the atmosphere. During the warming phase the outgoing radiation at the top of the atmosphere is reduced from the equilibrium value (particularly at those CO2 wavelengths). If warming eventually reaches equilibrium at a higher temperature, the OLR returns back up to match the incoming radiation.

Right that's what I'm saying. We have applied a net forcing of 1.8W/m2 to the atmosphere since 1900 mostly through CO2 and H2O but also solar. The warming that we have experienced thus far at the surface has rebalanced this forcing by .9W/m2 and we are left with a net imbalance of .9W/m2. So the earth has a fair amount more warming to do before reaching equilibrium again. If we had the present atmosphere but the same earth temperature as 1900, we would have the full imbalance of 1.8W/m2.

And you're posting right away again. You dont read, thats why you cannot make an inference to save your life.

I'm not talking to you. Can salbers and I have a conversation without you butting in with your rude comments about how stupid everybody else is?

[salbers]

Right that's what I'm saying. We have applied a net forcing of 1.8W/m2 to the atmosphere since 1900 mostly through CO2 and H2O but also solar. The warming that we have experienced thus far at the surface has rebalanced this forcing by .9W/m2 and we are left with a net imbalance of .9W/m2. So the earth has a fair amount more warming to do before reaching equilibrium again. If we had the present atmosphere but the same earth temperature as 1900, we would have the full imbalance of 1.8W/m2.

Yes, it seems we can look at the radiation imbalance from either a surface perspective or a top of atmosphere perspective. The top of atmosphere perspective seems useful in helping to interpret the observations from satellites.

[aslkahuna]

BTW just what does CO₂ and H₂O have to do with geomagnetic field reversals and high energy cosmic rays-also I really don't think you would want a major GRB occurring only 3000 ly from Earth.

Steve

[Sickman]

BethesdaWX and skiervermont, take it to PM.

Back on topic, please.

[salbers]

I guess the CO2/H2O relates to the topic about as much as GRBs ? Anyway, I think Betelgeuse was discussed as a GRB candidate though it would be an unlikely prospect. Gamma rays should be unaffected by the Earth's magnetic field alas.Yes, this is the topic, right?

By the way there have been numerous field reversals in the past and I'm not recalling any correlations with extinctions, are there? With less magnetic field, there would be more exposure to solar storms, however we wouldn't have the same mechanism at work to help create the more intense auroral substorms, would we - without a dipole?

[BethesdaWX]

I guess the CO2/H2O relates to the topic about as much as GRBs ? Anyway, I think Betelgeuse was discussed as a GRB candidate though it would be an unlikely prospect. Gamma rays should be unaffected by the Earth's magnetic field alas.Yes, this is the topic, right?

By the way there have been numerous field reversals in the past and I'm not recalling any correlations with extinctions, are there? With less magnetic field, there would be more exposure to solar storms, however we wouldn't have the same mechanism at work to help create the more intense auroral substorms, would we - without a dipole?

There have been correlations to exinction of species, but they are not major.

The magnetic field itself, reacting witrh solar release, is the cause for the aroras i believe, Kind of like a spark and gasoline. With less gasoline, you get less "whooooosh".

[WeatherRusty]

There have been correlations to exinction of species, but they are not major.

The magnetic field itself, reacting witrh solar release, is the cause for the aroras i believe, Kind of like a spark and gasoline. With less gasoline, you get less "whooooosh".

The aurora is the result of high velocity solar wind particles ionizing the atmospheric gases high in Earth's atmosphere. When electrons later recombine with the ionized atoms specific wavelengths (colors) of light are emitted by the atoms. This is florescence like what occurs in a florescent light bulb, the color of light being a function of the element being excited ie. oxygen, nitrogen and neon etc. .. Earth's magnetic field serves the purpose of deflecting the solar wind away from the atmosphere, but some leaks in and is directed along the magnetic field lines which enter the atmosphere some distance from the magnetic poles. We see the aurora where solar wind particle crash into the atmosphere.

[aslkahuna]

Actually, the aurora is powered by the aurora dynamo which connects to the magnetotail. When a turbulent Solar wind strikes the field, it first compresses and then weakens it and also results in oscillations in the structure of the field. This results in electrons in the magnetotail being accelerated to high energies and they come on the field lines that connnect to the oval. The electrical energy released when the electrons come in result in the glow of the aurora like the gas in a neon light glows when electicity is applied. Although the aurora is spectacular the very large majority of its energy is released as heat. The field lines that connect to the Solar wind are basically limited to the Polar regions and most Solar wind particles are protons which results in a deep red glow over the Poles. It used to be believed that the Solar wind produced the aurora but it's not known that the aurora does come from electrons well downwind in the magnetosphere.

Steve

[A-L-E-X]

BTW just what does CO₂ and H₂O have to do with geomagnetic field reversals and high energy cosmic rays-also I really don't think you would want a major GRB occurring only 3000 ly from Earth.

Steve

Steve, I wonder what kind of GRB occurred with the Crab Nebula supernova? There's a few papers out now theorizing that exotic matter might exist inside the remnant neutron star and be responsible for the aberrant behavior occurring inside the Nebula. It involves the formation of Bose-Einstein Condensate (quark-gluon plasma).

[Clifford]

Apparently the magnetic poles do reverse periodically.

http://en.wikipedia....gnetic_reversal

It has been a while (780,000 years) since the last Magnetic Pole Reversal. However, if the second graph is accurate, then we still have some time before a potential pole reversal would happen, and there is no indication that we would hit that minimum, as it is quite possible that the field strength will reverse and resume and tend back towards stronger.

It does look like the minimums have a periodicity of about 100,000 years which is interesting.

Ok.

I've overlayed an "Ice Age" chart onto the Wikipedia Magnetic Field Strength Chart.

I tried to mark many of the major descending temperatures (beginning of glaciation periods).

It is interesting that many of periods of descending temperatures occurred at magnetic field minima. It is not a great correspondence... but it is enough to make one wonder.

[Clifford]

Birds dying by the millions, the pole migrating east at 40miles annually, is this the beginning of a magnetic flip?

I'm not sure if the numbers are in the millions

These birds in Alabama are listed as dying from "Blunt Force Trauma".

They look like "Roadkill" to me... possibly stressed by a cold snap down in Alabama.

http://stardrive.org...desk&Itemid=103

These blackbirds were actually poisoned by the US Government.

http://www.csmonitor...mass-bird-death

No big conspiracy there.

There may still be some unexplained deaths. But, apparently flocks occasionally get wiped out. There was one flock somewhere listed as rabid birds. We should be thankful they all died.

(oh, it looks like my previous post, actually about magnetic poles got buried).

[aslkahuna]

Steve, I wonder what kind of GRB occurred with the Crab Nebula supernova? There's a few papers out now theorizing that exotic matter might exist inside the remnant neutron star and be responsible for the aberrant behavior occurring inside the Nebula. It involves the formation of Bose-Einstein Condensate (quark-gluon plasma).

Well this is a bit off topic, but the Crab was far enough away that any GRB would be in the realm of acceptability. Additionally, neither the Crab progenitor nor Betelguese are massive enough to produce a Hypernova GRB which happens when the core collapses into a Black Hole rather than a neutron star. As far an magnetic field reversals are concerned, the complex chaotic field while the process is going on would I think be more of a problem for modern technology and whichever species depend upon it rather than causing a mass extinction among the animal population. I say this because the tangled field would make forecasting the effects of Solar events difficult and the effects of same would most certainly be different.

Steve

[BethesdaWX]

I'm not sure if the numbers are in the millions

These birds in Alabama are listed as dying from "Blunt Force Trauma".

They look like "Roadkill" to me... possibly stressed by a cold snap down in Alabama.

http://stardrive.org...desk&Itemid=103

These blackbirds were actually poisoned by the US Government.

http://www.csmonitor...mass-bird-death

No big conspiracy there.

There may still be some unexplained deaths. But, apparently flocks occasionally get wiped out. There was one flock somewhere listed as rabid birds. We should be thankful they all died.

(oh, it looks like my previous post, actually about magnetic poles got buried).

hehe, whw knows.....NOAA had something about "millions" sometime this fall, i forget what i was reading.

[Roger Smith]

You may find this website interesting:

http://wdc.kugi.kyoto-u.ac.jp/poles/polesexp.html

In general terms, the pole is not shifting eastward toward Siberia, it is shifting WNW towards Siberia. In the past decade it has drifted well past the Canadian arctic islands to about 85N 130W and continues to move WNW at about 80 kms a year. I suppose at latitudes above 80 deg N it makes little difference which way you go, but that's the actual direction the pole has been moving in the past two decades. Before that, it was moving NW or NNW through the Canadian arctic islands, if you go back to the earlier 20th century, and back in the 19th century it was located on the Canadian mainland. Apparently before it was reliably located in 1831 by the Ross expedition, the NMP was located in various parts of the western arctic and just by coincidence it was first located near the point where it began to reverse direction (from east-southeast to north). In the Maunder period it may have been over Victoria Island or Banks Island, or the nearby Beaufort Sea.

The website link also explains that there are two magnetic poles, the "magnetic" and the "geomagnetic." The latter one is located near Ellesmere Island and northwest Greenland, and is also drifting NW at present.

I would doubt that a magnetic pole reversal is imminent, no real theory on this but would imagine it would be at least hundreds of years into the future at the current rate of weakening. That's a good thing because maybe in 300-500 years we will have developed technology to offset the many problems we would face on earth with a weak or reversing magnetic field.

[Clifford]

You may find this website interesting:

http://wdc.kugi.kyot...s/polesexp.html

Hmmm

So, at the South pole, the movement of Magnetic South is slowing down as the pole moves away from True South.

At the North pole, the movement of Magnetic North is accelerating as the pole moves towards True North.

It sounds to me that if there is a normal oscillation, that the velocity of movement would be highest towards the middle of the oscillation, which would likely be the closest point to "true north" or "true south" (the poles determined by earth's rotation).

One would expect the south pole wobble to reverse in the next few decades, and head back towards the middle of Antarctica. And, as the North Pole wobble passes the highest lattitude, it should start slowing again.

[Clifford]

Ok.

People talk about a magnetic pole flip.

However, it seems like we are in normal oscillation of the center of the magnetic pole.

Are there climate consequences?

It sounds like Earth's magnetic poles are now more centered on the N/S poles than had been true earlier (since the N magnetic pole is moving quicker towards North than the S magnetic pole is moving away from South).

The oscillation also seems to be relatively quick (major changes within a century or so).

[BethesdaWX]

Ok.

People talk about a magnetic pole flip.

However, it seems like we are in normal oscillation of the center of the magnetic pole.

Are there climate consequences?

It sounds like Earth's magnetic poles are now more centered on the N/S poles than had been true earlier (since the N magnetic pole is moving quicker towards North than the S magnetic pole is moving away from South).

The oscillation also seems to be relatively quick (major changes within a century or so).

The issue is the weakening of the magetic field.....seen since the 18th century, more than the flipping poles themselves. The weakening of the magnetic field allows higher GRC/Solar Cycle influence, thus amplifying warming from such values.

Since the mid 1800's, the magnetic field was weakened by 10-15%. That is crazy huge by planetary standards, and there would certainly be impacts of such changes.

[Clifford]

Since the mid 1800's, the magnetic field was weakened by 10-15%. That is crazy huge by planetary standards, and there would certainly be impacts of such changes.

Any chance that AC power and using the earth as "neutral" could affect the magnetic fields of the planet.

Somewhat like making a huge degaussing field?

[aslkahuna]

Any chance that AC power and using the earth as "neutral" could affect the magnetic fields of the planet.

Somewhat like making a huge degaussing field?

There's not enough AC power globally to do that. Besides which the planetary electrical field is DC.

Steve

[A-L-E-X]

There are some indications that when the earth's magnetic field declines, the sun's magnetic field gives us a measure of protection against highly ionized particles.

[A-L-E-X]

Well this is a bit off topic, but the Crab was far enough away that any GRB would be in the realm of acceptability. Additionally, neither the Crab progenitor nor Betelguese are massive enough to produce a Hypernova GRB which happens when the core collapses into a Black Hole rather than a neutron star. As far an magnetic field reversals are concerned, the complex chaotic field while the process is going on would I think be more of a problem for modern technology and whichever species depend upon it rather than causing a mass extinction among the animal population. I say this because the tangled field would make forecasting the effects of Solar events difficult and the effects of same would most certainly be different.

Steve

Eta Carina might be a different story, however. During its last outburst as a nova it was actually the most intrinsically luminous star in the sky.

[A-L-E-X]

You may find this website interesting:

http://wdc.kugi.kyot...s/polesexp.html

In general terms, the pole is not shifting eastward toward Siberia, it is shifting WNW towards Siberia. In the past decade it has drifted well past the Canadian arctic islands to about 85N 130W and continues to move WNW at about 80 kms a year. I suppose at latitudes above 80 deg N it makes little difference which way you go, but that's the actual direction the pole has been moving in the past two decades. Before that, it was moving NW or NNW through the Canadian arctic islands, if you go back to the earlier 20th century, and back in the 19th century it was located on the Canadian mainland. Apparently before it was reliably located in 1831 by the Ross expedition, the NMP was located in various parts of the western arctic and just by coincidence it was first located near the point where it began to reverse direction (from east-southeast to north). In the Maunder period it may have been over Victoria Island or Banks Island, or the nearby Beaufort Sea.

The website link also explains that there are two magnetic poles, the "magnetic" and the "geomagnetic." The latter one is located near Ellesmere Island and northwest Greenland, and is also drifting NW at present.

I would doubt that a magnetic pole reversal is imminent, no real theory on this but would imagine it would be at least hundreds of years into the future at the current rate of weakening. That's a good thing because maybe in 300-500 years we will have developed technology to offset the many problems we would face on earth with a weak or reversing magnetic field.

There are actually problems going on right now regarding magnetic pole reversal in various parts of the world. Someone posted an article a couple of weeks ago having to do with Tampa airport having to make adjustments for it because it was causing them trouble and there is also the case of the South Atlantic Anomaly.

[A-L-E-X]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Atlantic_Anomaly

The South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) refers to the area where the Earth's inner Van Allen radiation belt comes closest to the Earth's surface. This leads to an increased flux of energetic particles in this region and exposes orbiting satellites to higher than usual levels of radiation. The effect is caused by the non-concentricity of the Earth and its magnetic dipole, and the SAA is the near-Earth region where the Earth's magnetic field is weakest.Contents [hide]

1 Position and shape

2 Effects

3 See also

4 References

[edit]

Position and shape

The Van Allen radiation belts are symmetric with the Earth's magnetic axis, which is tilted with respect to the Earth's rotational axis by an angle of ~11 degrees. The intersection between the magnetic and rotation axes of the Earth is located ~500 kilometres (300 mi) more to the North, above the centre of the Earth. Because of this tilt and translation, the inner Van Allen belt is closest to the Earth's surface over the south Atlantic ocean, and farthest from the Earth's surface over the north Pacific ocean.[2]

A cross-sectional view of the Van Allen radiation belts, noting the point where the South Atlantic Anomaly occurs

The shape of the SAA changes over time. Since its initial discovery in 1958,[3] the southern limits of the SAA have remained roughly constant while a long-term expansion has been measured to the northwest, the north, the northeast, and the east. Additionally, the shape and particle density of the SAA varies on a diurnal basis, with greatest particle density corresponding roughly to local noon. At an altitude of approximately 500 km (300 mi), the SAA spans from -50° to 0° geographic latitude and from -90° to +40° longitude.[4] The highest intensity portion of the SAA drifts to the west at a speed of about 0.3 degrees per year, and is noticeable in the references listed below. The drift rate of the SAA is very close to the rotation differential between the Earth's core and its surface, estimated to be between 0.3 and 0.5 degrees per year.

Current literature suggests that a slow weakening of the geomagnetic field is one of several causes for the changes in the borders of the SAA since its discovery. As the geomagnetic field continues to weaken, the inner Van Allen belt gets closer to the Earth, with a commensurate enlargement of the SAA at given altitudes.[citation needed] Some scientists, including Dr. Pieter Kotze, head of the geomagnetism group at the Hermanus Magnetic Observatory in the southern Cape, believe that the anomaly is a side effect of geomagnetic reversal.[5]

Predictions estimate that by 2240 the SAA may cover approximately half of the southern hemisphere.[6]

[edit]

Effects

The South Atlantic Anomaly is of great significance to astronomical satellites and other spacecraft that orbit the Earth at several hundred kilometers altitude; these orbits take satellites through the anomaly periodically, exposing them to several minutes of strong radiation, caused by the trapped protons in the inner Van Allen belt, each time. The International Space Station, orbiting with an inclination of 51.6°, requires extra shielding to deal with this problem. The Hubble Space Telescope does not take observations while passing through the SAA.[7] Astronauts are also affected by this region which is said to be the cause of peculiar 'shooting stars' seen in the visual field of astronauts.[8] Passing through the South Atlantic Anomaly is thought[9] to be the reason for the early failures of the Globalstar network's satellites.

NASA has reported that modern laptops have crashed when the space shuttle flights passed though the anomaly.[1]

[Clifford]

The easiest way to "flip" a magnetic field is to expose it to a stronger magnetic field. I.E. you can take an ordinary permanent magnet. Expose it to a stronger magnetic field, and reverse the poles.

Locally the most powerful magnetic field is that of the sun. However, it has an extremely dynamic field, and lately has been "flipping" every decade with the solar cycles.

If you look at the NASA prediction of the Earth's future magnetic field...

http://www.nasa.gov/...neticfield.html

In a sense... it looks a lot like what the sun looks like now.

Now we know that the sun's magnetic field is flipping every decade with the solar cycles. But, it is a very dynamic field with magnetically active "sunspots".

Cosmic rays are predominantly made up of charged particles or ions.

So, we would have to conclude that the cosmic rays are also magnetically active, as well as being gravitationally and electrically active.

However, it would be very likely that their distribution is non-uniform.

So, what if we are travelling through a section of space with either an unstable magnetic field, or an inverted magnetic field?

Voyager 1 & 2 are still dominated by the sun's heliopause, but should leave the sun's dominance.... soon.

Anyway, I'm having troubles figuring out what is happening with the magnetic field around the Voyagers, but perhaps soon we will get a clear view of the magnetic field beyond the sun's influence, and that will help us understand the sun's magnetic field dynamics, as well as the magnetic field the earth is exposed to.

Ok.

So my hypothesis is that the Earth's temperature should be related to the inverse of the magnetic field strength fo the earth (as a proxy for the sun and cosmic rays.

I took the combined temperature/magnet field strength diagram from yesterday and flipped the magnetic field strength.

What is obvious is that if one chooses to look for a "weak match" between any set of squiggly lines, one can conclude that they look very similar

The red rectangle seemed to be a good match.

From left to right.

Small double peak.

Large Peak.

second smaller peak.

And, perhaps a little tiny peak near the falling.

The two green rectangles had to be rotated slightly, so somehow my timing is off.

The two pink rectangles marked prominent peaks.

The leftmost pink rectangle is a little lower peak, but has some raggedy stuff to the left...

Just to the right of it is a higher (but narrow) peak temperature, corresponding to a low magnetic peak?????

Anyway...

So my reasoning is:

A stable Earth's magnetic field reflects a stable solar magnetic field which would indicate a cooling trend.

A variable (decreasing) Earth's magnetic field reflects an erratic solar magnetic field, which reflects cosmic magnetic field variations which cause more sunspots and global warming.

So...

High Solar Activity and low Earth's Magnetic Field strength for the last century sounds very reasonable.

If we could get high resolution magnetic field strength information for the Marauder Minimum, we would likely conclude an increased stability of the sun's field, and either a amplifying or inverted effect with the earth's field strength. Earth's impact could have been significantly greater than now with the more chaotic strength from the sun.

I guess my point is that we really don't know what the sun's "base state" is... or if it is "normal" for the magnetic field to be flipping so frequently.

[A-L-E-X]

Clifford, this is some excellent research, and I would say the best way to find out the base state of the sun from earth (albeit indirectly) is by measuring the state of the AO (SUN ---> AO ---> NAO). I believe someone stated that it was -1 during the maunder minima and the last two years its acted that way also. There is an excellent thread on magnetic field reversing possibly being related to changes in climate that we talked about in the main forum a few weeks ago-- hopefully you can find it.

[A-L-E-X]

btw the Voyagers will be in the heliopause by 2015 so we have not long to wait.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_1#Heliopause

Heliopause

Voyager 1 is currently within the heliosheath and approaching interstellar space.

As Voyager 1 heads for interstellar space, its instruments continue to study the solar system; Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientists are using the plasma wave experiments aboard Voyager 1 and 2 to look for the heliopause, the boundary at which the solar wind transitions into the interstellar medium.

Scientists at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory believe that Voyager 1 entered the termination shock in February 2003.[13] Some other scientists have expressed doubt, discussed in the journal Nature of November 6, 2003.[14] In a scientific session at the American Geophysical Union meeting in New Orleans on the morning of May 25, 2005, Dr. Ed Stone presented evidence that Voyager 1 crossed the termination shock in December 2004.

The issue will not be resolved until other data becomes available, since Voyager 1's solar-wind detector ceased functioning in 1990. This failure has meant that termination shock detection must be inferred from the data from the other instruments on board.[citation needed]

However, in May 2005 a NASA press release said that consensus was that Voyager 1 was now in the heliosheath.[15] Scientists anticipate that the craft will reach the heliopause in 2015.

Voyager 1 is the farthest human-made object from Earth, traveling away from both the Earth and the Sun at a relatively faster speed than any other probe.[16]

[edit]

Current status

Location and trajectories of Pioneer and Voyager spacecraft, as of July 7, 2007. Note Voyager 2 is farther than Pioneer 11 and only appears closer here due to its -55 degree declination, and that Voyager 1's position is drawn too far away.

As of February 6th, 2011, Voyager 1 was about 116.102AU (17.242 billion km, or 10.788 billion miles) or about 0.00183 of a light-year from the Sun. Radio signals traveling at the speed of light between Voyager 1 and Earth take more than 16 hours to cross the distance between the two. (To compare, Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our Sun, is about 4.2 light-years distant = 265 thousand AU) Voyager 1's current relative velocity is 17.064 km/s, or 61,452 kilometres per hour (38,185 mph). This calculates as 3.6 AU per year, about 10% faster than Voyager 2. At this velocity, 73,600 years would pass before reaching the nearest star, Proxima Centauri, were the spacecraft traveling in the direction of that star.

Voyager 1 is not heading towards any particular star, but in about 40,000 years it will pass within 1.6 light years of the star AC+79 3888 in the constellation Camelopardalis. That star is generally moving towards our Solar System at about 119 kilometers per second.[17]

The spacecraft is at 11.95° declination and 17.172 hours right ascension, placing it in the constellation Ophiuchus as observed from the Earth. NASA continues its daily tracking of Voyager 1 with its Deep Space Network. This network measures both the elevation and azimuth angles of the incoming radio waves from Voyager 1, and it also measures the distance from the Earth to Voyager 1.

On March 31, 2006, the amateur radio operators from AMSAT in Germany tracked and received radio waves from Voyager 1 using the 20-meter (66 ft) dish at Bochum with a long integration technique. Retrieved data was checked and verified against data from the Deep Space Network station at Madrid, Spain.[18] This is believed to be the first such tracking of Voyager 1.

On December 13, 2010, it was confirmed that Voyager 1 passed the reach of the solar wind emanating from the Sun. It is suspected that solar wind at this distance turns sideways due to interstellar wind pushing against the heliosphere. Since June 2010, detection of solar wind has been consistently at zero, providing conclusive evidence of the event.[19] The meridional (north-south) speed of the solar wind, which is suspected to have increased, cannot be inferred in Voyager 1's current configuration.[citation needed] On this date, the spacecraft was approximately 17.3 billion km (10.8 billion miles) from the Sun[20]

On November 19, 2015, Voyager 1 is projected to be approximately 133.15 Astronomical Units from the Sun.[21]

Information regarding updates about Voyager 1 (as well as Voyager 2, Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11 and New Horizons) are available online at Spacecraft Escaping the Solar System and Weekly Mission Reports.

[A-L-E-X]

As an aside, this is also interesting:

The Pioneer Anomaly

http://en.wikipedia....Pioneer_anomaly

It might be connected to this:

http://en.wikipedia....i/Flyby_anomaly

It is possible, but not proven, that this anomaly is linked to the flyby anomaly, which has been observed in other spacecraft.[22] Although the circumstances are very different (planet flyby vs. deep space cruise), the overall effect is similar - a small but unexplained velocity change is observed on top of a much larger conventional gravitational acceleration.

The flyby anomaly is an unexpected energy increase during Earth-flybys of spacecraft. This anomaly has been observed as a shift in the S-Band and X-Band Doppler and the ranging data. Taken together it causes a significant unaccounted velocity increase of over 13 mm/s during flybys.

[Clifford]

Thanks Alex

I only see a couple of discussions on Earth's Magnetic field here.

They don't seem to get into a lot of depth, although the 12Z topic may discuss the oscillation currents.

The way the previous terrestrial magnetic pole strengths and reversals have been mapped is pretty ingenious.

They date a sediment layer, or lava flow.

Look for magnetite with a fixed orientation.

And, then they at least know the N/S arrangement, and, I suppose they are also inferring strength somehow. Most permanent magnets are heat sensitive, so perhaps the field strength can be determined from new fields created in lava flows.

With any luck, one might get more precise proxy data during "Recorded History" as one should be able to get better date information on things like volcanic eruptions.

It just seems to make sense to me that the sun would eventually tend to a stable magnetic field, and that would affect solar magnetic activity. Perhaps some useful data can be gleaned from the current solar minimum.

I've never been happy with the Milankovitch theory.

This magnetic field theory seems to make more sense to me.

As far as Voyager... I'll try to follow the information on it a little more. I didn't realize the distance difference between V1 (17 Million km) & V2 (14 million km). Hopefully V1 will get some good information on the "Great Beyond" before it goes dark. Hopefully it will have some useful interstellar magnetic field information.

It doesn't sound like the New Horizons probe was designed for a 50 year lifetime... perhaps the Voyager probes weren't either.

There have been some discussion on the sun's magnetic field and ice ages.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Osclillations-In-Sun-039-s-Magnetic-Field-Cause-Ice-Ages-on-Earth-45568.shtml

My idea is that chaos in the sun's magnetic field is causing "warming", and that it could be driven by outside forces, and that the Earth's magnetic field might be a reflection of it.

---- Clifford ----

[A-L-E-X]

Thanks Alex

I only see a couple of discussions on Earth's Magnetic field here.

http://www.americanw...40/page__st__60

http://www.americanw...etic-upwellings

http://www.americanw...c-pole-reversal

They don't seem to get into a lot of depth, although the 12Z topic may discuss the oscillation currents.

The way the previous terrestrial magnetic pole strengths and reversals have been mapped is pretty ingenious.

They date a sediment layer, or lava flow.

Look for magnetite with a fixed orientation.

And, then they at least know the N/S arrangement, and, I suppose they are also inferring strength somehow. Most permanent magnets are heat sensitive, so perhaps the field strength can be determined from new fields created in lava flows.

With any luck, one might get more precise proxy data during "Recorded History" as one should be able to get better date information on things like volcanic eruptions.

It just seems to make sense to me that the sun would eventually tend to a stable magnetic field, and that would affect solar magnetic activity. Perhaps some useful data can be gleaned from the current solar minimum.

I've never been happy with the Milankovitch theory.

This magnetic field theory seems to make more sense to me.

As far as Voyager... I'll try to follow the information on it a little more. I didn't realize the distance difference between V1 (17 Million km) & V2 (14 million km). Hopefully V1 will get some good information on the "Great Beyond" before it goes dark. Hopefully it will have some useful interstellar magnetic field information.

It doesn't sound like the New Horizons probe was designed for a 50 year lifetime... perhaps the Voyager probes weren't either.

There have been some discussion on the sun's magnetic field and ice ages.

http://news.softpedi...rth-45568.shtml

My idea is that chaos in the sun's magnetic field is causing "warming", and that it could be driven by outside forces, and that the Earth's magnetic field might be a reflection of it.

---- Clifford ----

It sounds like the Voyagers are scheduled to go dark somewhere around 2025, but hopefully they may surprise us. You might find some interesting articles in the first link

http://www2.tbo.com/...impacts-tampa-/

That is the one about the Tampa airport, there are several others in there also.

Ive come around to the idea of periodic mass extinctions followed by accelerated evolution (punctual evolution) in cycles of approx every 30 million years or so, which would be caused by the sun's motion through the galaxy. Sort of how forest growth accelerates after a widespread forest fire. As it passes through the denser spiral arms, the extra gravitational force of nearby stars nudges transneptunian objects, asteroids or comets towards the inner solar system by disturbing their orbits. These could result in the kind of collisions that occurred on Jupiter a few years ago. The K-T extinction is the most well-known type of such object and probably broke up into several pieces as it careened towards earth, with multiple impacts across the earth and with rich iridium deposits being distributed worldwide. If this extinction had not occurred we probably would not have evolved from lower mammals; instead intelligent life (had it developed) would have been reptilian in nature. I do think this would have happened, because towards the end of the Cretaceous, we started seeing warm blooded reptiles who took care of their young, had larger brains, stereoscopic vision, hunted in packs and stood semi-upright. This upright stance probably resulted in the other evolutionary enhancements.

[gravitylover]

I showed this to Nate a few weeks ago, the OMG particle was a cosmic ray the size of a proton that could hit you with the force of a baseball going 60 mph. That doesnt sound like a lot, but comparing a single proton to a baseball..... what kind of force must that one cosmic ray have been packing lol. And it probably wasnt even from our galaxy and traveled hundreds of millions of light years to get here from a supermassive black hole at the center of another galaxy.

I instantly built a mental picture of a person walking down the sidewalk and then you hear the sound of a ball hitting a bat and the person goes down flat on their bum, seemingly for no reason at all