[Rockhounds] The Mysterious Anomaly Weakening Earth's Magnetic Field Seems to Be Splitting

[Glen Miller]

Thanks for the interesting article. Also for the followup from ESA
explaining some of the
significance of any weakening.

Glen Miller

On Tue, May 26, 2020 at 6:32 AM Kreigh Tomaszewski <kreigh at gmail.com> wrote:

> New satellite data from the European Space Agency (ESA) reveal that
> the mysterious
> anomaly
> <
> https://www.sciencealert.com/something-mysterious-under-southern-africa-dramatically-weakening-earth-s-magnetic-field-south-atlantic-anomaly
> >
> weakening
> Earth's magnetic field continues to evolve, with the most recent
> observations showing we could soon be dealing with more than one of these
> strange phenomena.
>
> The South Atlantic Anomaly
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Atlantic_Anomaly> is a vast expanse
> of
> reduced magnetic intensity in Earth's magnetic field, extending all the way
> from South America to southwest Africa.
>
> Since our planet's magnetic field acts as a kind of shield – protecting
> Earth from solar winds and cosmic radiation, in addition to determining the
> location of the magnetic poles
> <
> https://www.sciencealert.com/russia-is-stealing-magnetic-north-from-canada-and-this-could-be-what-s-behind-it
> >
> –
> any reduction in its strength is an important event we need to monitor
> closely, as these changes could ultimately have significant implications
> for our planet.
>
> At present, there's nothing to be alarmed about. The ESA notes
> <
> https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Swarm/Swarm_probes_weakening_of_Earth_s_magnetic_field
> >
> that
> the most significant effects right now are largely limited to technical
> malfunctions on board satellites and spacecraft, which can be exposed to a
> greater amount of charged particles in low-Earth orbit as they pass through
> the South Atlantic Anomaly in the skies above South America and the South
> Atlantic Ocean.
>
>
> https://www.sciencealert.com/mysterious-anomaly-weakening-earth-s-magnetic-field-seems-to-be-splitting-into-two
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