The New York Times On Earth's Magnetic Flip-Flop

TolkiEinstein writes "The New York Times reports that, relatively speaking, compasses may soon point South. It's long been known that Earth flips magnetically every half-million years or so, and, with the north pole's magnetic field at about 10-15 percent [less than] its strength of 150 years ago, many geologists feel a flip is coming up. Computer simulations also suggest that the current state of the magnetic field is indicative of an upcoming flip. Though it would take hundreds of years to complete, the impact on life may be significant but not catastrophic, including phenomena such as power-outages, satellite malfunctions and disruptions in the rhythmic functions of some animals such as loggerhead turtles. The EU plans to launch a trio of satellites in 2009 to assume polar orbits & monitor the field." (Cross your fingers for some nice solar wind.) Update: 07/13 17:02 GMT by T : Note: the summary here originally misstated the Times' article; the field 's strength has decreased 10-15 percent, rather than to 10-15 percent.

Hollywood Blockbuster?

[BigDork1001]

Am I the only one who sees this becoming the next Hollywood blockbuster disaster movie? They've done asteroids, tidal waves, volcanos, global warming/cooling, alien invasion, and so they have to be digging for ideas. And of course in true Hollywood fashion they'll toss science out of the window for the sake of a better film.

Re:Bush's fault

[malchus842]

Modded funny, but you just watch - people WILL blame the government when it happens. No matter how much you try to explain, no matter how clear the explainations are, a significant number of people are going to blame the government.

It's also the case that whoever is in office is going to get burned by the problems - blamed for "lack of preparedness" or "failure to respond to the situation" etc, etc. And there will be calls for huge governmennt expenditures to "fix" or "solve" the problem.

Re:Worldwide Aurora

[PhxBlue]

Someone watched "The Core" one time too many. Earth's magnetic field does nothing to deflect UV radiation. I would recommend lead-lined clothing, not more sunblock. :)

Re:Bush's fault

[ScottGant]

This will again turn into another non-event like Y2K and everything else these the-sky-is-falling people love drumming up to keep people afraid.

The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself...oh, and also Carnies. Circus folk. They're nomads you know. Smell like cabbage...very small hands....

Re:Hollywood Blockbuster?

[Anonymous Coward]

So more special effects don't make for a better film?

No, they don't.

Terminator 3 had more SFX than The Terminator.
Attack Of The Clones had more SFX than The Empire Strikes Back.
Lawnmower Man had more SFX than Misery.

Re:Hollywood Blockbuster?

[mork]

> Am I the only one who sees this becoming the
> next Hollywood blockbuster disaster movie?

They have, see "The Core"

> And of course in true Hollywood fashion
> they'll toss science out of the window for the
> sake of a better film

They did ...

Re:Less a flip and more a migration...

[phillymjs]

You wouldn't go to sleep one night with your compass pointing north and suddenly have it point south when you woke up.

No. In fact, frequently the opposite [urbandictionary.com] is what actually happens.

~Philly

Re:Worldwide Aurora

[Geek_3.3]

IANAP, but IIRC the magnetic field doesn't do much deflection of 'nasty radiation' RELATIVE to the atmosphere. Not saying it's not a factor, but, it's not the main factor.

Re:Bush's fault

[jimicus]

(please mod funny)

If you need to ask, you don't deserve the mod.

Re:Hollywood Blockbuster?

[CmdrGravy]

Well it wouldn't have been any worse without the dinosaurs !

Yeah, we're in big trouble.

[Overzeetop]

Have you noticed how many foolish ideas have flourished in this supposed hotbead of intellegence this morning? According to the last poll responses, I'm guessing the average IQ is above 130 here (and well above most of your bosses).

Even if some posts are in jest, we've had folks questioning the results of a simple magnetic shift affecting the direction of the coreolis affect, (toilet flushes), tilt of the earth (seasons), loss of the atmosphere, and viability of all satellites in orbit.

Even if it happened over a couple years (which it doesn't), the only affect I've seen which is certain to happen is that the Government will be blamed for it.

Re:Typical - So typical

[Ron Bennett]

Poor editing, or should I say the apparent total lack of, is among the reasons Slashdot will always remain relegated to a novelty site of sorts; among the reasons I won't buy a membership here.

I don't understand why the Slashdot staff doesn't at least briefly research considered submissions to ensure they're are not dups and, more importantly, are accurate; spell checking submissions before posting them would be helpful too.

End of my rant ... now relaxing knowing the pole reversal is likely not going to happen anytime soon.

Re:magnetic disks

[jellomizer]

Well take your computer and move it 180 Degrees or Pi Radian does your all your data eraise because the magnicic poles are facing in an other direction. No it doesn't The Earths Magnetic Pull is large but it is relitivly weak compared to the magnets that are already in your harddrive.

Public scientific literacy in pretty good shape?

[chunderfest]

No one knows precisely why the field periodically reverses, but scientists say the responsibility probably lies with changes in the turbulent flows of molten iron, which they envision as similar to the churning gases that make up the clouds of Jupiter.

I never thought I'd see the day when a mass-market publication, using analogy to explain a difficult scientific concept to the public, would invoke "the churning gases that make up the clouds of Jupiter" as the easy-to-understand common-knowledge side of the analogy.

You go, NYT.

Re:Mayan Calendar ends in 2012, coincidence ???

[meringuoid]

If I'm not mistaken, didn't Nostradomus not predict anything beyond 2012 because the world/civilization was supposed to end?

1999 and seven months, actually. His believers changed their tune to 1999 and nine months (September, right? Sept = seven) in August, and when 2000 dawned without disaster they started pushing 2012 along with the rest of the k00k brigade.

It does not point north!

[Pu'be]

God damn it, I am tired of Jack Holes saying that a compass points north and when they flip it will point south.

Hello, Earth to idiots...is it that hard to understand that a compass does NOT point north, but it aligns with magnetic north & SOUTH.

If you want your compass right now to point south, paint the other end, and when they flip if you still want it to point to our current north, paint it's corresponding end.

This aint rocket science for Christ sake. Anything that can distinguish "north & south" will work EXACTLY the same when the polls flip, as it will still be aligning with the magnetic polls, just like it always has and always will. Though your stupid little GPS programmed by stupid people who have stupidly programmed it to "point north" and not "align with the magnetic polls" as it does will probably not work right, but only because of the stupid programmers.

Do not ask me why, but this crap really pisses me off, go figure.

Re:This would be good but

[rossdee]

You have to think of the other side as well. 180 degrees from the prime meridian is the international date line. Down the middle of the pacific is probably the best place to put this since it would be inconvenient to have it in the middle of some countries.