[Rockhounds] Earth's magnetic field changes 10 times faster than once thought

[Kreigh Tomaszewski]

Our planet's dynamic *magnetic field*
<https://www.livescience.com/64930-earths-magenetic-field.html> can change
direction far more quickly than scientists suspected.

This bubble of magnetism holds our atmosphere in place and protects us from
harmful cosmic radiation and solar winds. But a few times every million
years, *the field's polarity reverses*
<https://www.livescience.com/61603-what-if-magnetic-pole-reversal.html> and
the magnetic *North Pole*
<https://www.livescience.com/41955-north-pole.html> and South Pole trade
places. The last time this happened was about 780,000 years ago, and the
process was previously estimated to take thousands of years, shifting at a
rate of about one degree per year.

But this and other dramatic changes in the magnetic field's direction may
happen 10 times faster than once thought — and nearly 100 times faster than
recently observed changes, researchers reported in a new study.

https://www.livescience.com/magnetic-field-changes-faster-10x.html