The magnetic pole is moving faster than at any time in human history, causing major problems for navigation and migratory wildlife. The magnetic north pole is currently shifting at a faster rate than at any time in human history — almost 40 miles a year — and some experts believe that it may be the beginning of a complete pole reversal, according to the Independent.
The changes are already beginning to cause major problems for aviation, navigation and migratory animals which use the Earth’s magnetic field to orient themselves. Some airports have even had to change the names of their runways to better correspond to their current direction relative to magnetic north. Ever since the magnetic north pole was first discovered in 1831, geologists have been tracking its progress. Unlike true north (which is marked by the Earth’s axis), magnetic north is constantly on the move due to changes in the planet’s molten core, which contains iron. Throughout most of recorded history, the pole has been positioned at or around Canada’s icy Ellesmere Island, but if it keeps moving at its current rate, it won’t be long before it sits above Russia instead.
The thing that really makes the pole’s current movement so unusual, however, is the speed that it is shifting. In the last decade alone, movement has increased by a third, throwing off compasses by roughly one degree every five years. Changes that fast have already caused major headaches for the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. Tampa International Airport in Florida has just spent a month renaming all of its runways, which are named after the degree at which they point on a compass. Similar changes were recently made to runways at Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach, and across the country runways now need to be renamed at least once every five years.
The shifting pole may also become a grave concern for migratory wildlife, such as birds, turtles and other sea creatures which use Earth’s magnetic field to navigate over great distances. It’s unclear how capable these animals are of recalibrating their navigational instincts to compensate for the changes.
The rapid shifting of the pole’s position has even prompted some experts to speculate that the Earth’s entire magnetic field may be preparing to “flip,” whereby all compasses completely invert and point south instead of north.
#17 Guyver
Thanks for the simple-minded link to the simple-minded web page!
How do you find these web pages, anyway? I mean, that page is so gripping, I found myself near hypnotized and unable to tear myself away, due to the utter lightness of the thing.
21, Forces,
You too?!?!?! I thought I was the only one to have found myself nearly hypnotized.
The picture and the subject together is high level humor. ROFL
1. So what does happen to the migratory animals on a pole flip? Population collapse I would think every x 1000 of years and it should be well represented in the fossil record all to the point: how can there be migratory animals?
2. The better analogy might be that man is causing the pole flip thru its manufacturing/mining activities and all these must stop in order to prevent the flip from occurring and/or we must return the stolen metals to their original locations.
3. guyver = our discussing ended last time by you not answering: “What proof would you accept as AGW in fact occurring.” You’ve had time to work on your answer.
The danger of having the magnetic poles flip is that we may not have a significant magnetic field at all for several years, allowing solar radiation to bombard the planet.
#24
Reading is not comprehension, so try again.
#26–Guyver==what did I miss? Don’t be coy, say it right out loud.
but I also wonder about the lack of magnetic shielding==not that it goes away as it just is shifting all the time to like the equator or some such I imagine which is still a shield with the Aurora Borealis appearing over Miami for a few years. That doesn’t bother me unless we need the poles near the axis in order to have protection and again isn’t “the evidence” that the poles don’t flip because there have been no massive die offs due to radiation or lack of migration?
How does the record in the ocean floor spreading mesh with the biological record to the contrary?
Kinda interesting. The explanation must be well understood–I’ve just never seen it.
There is excellent magnetic reversal data for the last 100million years or so. There haven’t been any major die offs in that time – other than meteor vs dinosaur.
So the conclusion is that magnetic reversals don’t lead to die offs. Either the overall field stays high enough to preserve some shielding or the increased radiation isn’t that dangerous.
However the majority of (non marine) animals that have been around for most of the last 100MYr haven’t been that long lived. Perhaps increased cosmic rays aren’t a big deal for a shrew that lives for 3-4 years but might be bad news for a sun loving ape that lives for 80.
What!!!! nobody blaming Bush or Obama? What is this blog coming to?
#20 Pedrito, u should fill your mule with scrap metal and quickly run the opposite way and save the world.
I don’t think there is a damn thing we can do about migrating animals getting lost. Unless we teach them to navigate by the stars, or read maps. This is the way it has always been.
For me, the sash really makes the dress.
Without it, she might end up looking plump or something.
well if the poles are gonna flip then charlie sheen must be our early warning system for this, ’cause he certainly has..
Its said to be a sign of the end:
http://area51et.com/full-disclosure-breaking-news/signs-of-the-apocalypse-mass-kills-magnetic-pole-shift/
Some of those “aliens” look like Obama.
# 25 akallio9000 said, “The danger of having the magnetic poles flip is …”
Have no worries. The geologic record shows that previous pole “shifts” took thousands of years to complete. If there were to be a “flip” (suggesting a very rapid change) we’re dead so no worries.
By the way, a magnetic pole shift will not cause the Earth to turn upside down. The magnetic poles are caused by subterranean movement of the core.
Bobbo – I don’t believe I’ve read any theories about the effects on migratory animals but, since a shift would take millennia to complete, I suspect most would adapt.
@34,
[Please drop the AREA51ET from the URL as WordPress doesn't display it properly. Plus, it's... Erm, well, it IS necessary, but you see, it breaks the link, which is a shame.]
Rats. Time to update all the Sectional and Jepp charts. Yep, it’s the aviation mapmakers that caused this just to make a few extra bucks. Some major airports are already renaming and repainting their runways.
Animby–good point, that the flip itself takes 1000′s of years and its “obvious” the animals adapt or they wouldn’t be here, or wouldn’t be migrating.
So once again Darwin strikes me as mind boggling AMAZING. I’ll bet the migratory animals have EVOLVED to be able to change their genetic imprint on how to follow the magnetic lines? Like an update to the bios.
I don’t see the intelligence, but I see the design.
Wow, Mom, Wow!!
Thanks for the Photo. When I realized it wasn’t Al Gore on the pole, it made a lot more sense.
http://www.mizozo.com/profile/jonolan/profile_articles/page6.html
I’m not sure we know exactly how long a flip takes.
I’m not sure a flip causes mass extinctions. I’ve read the claim that most identified species seem to last about 2,000,000 years for warm blooded animals. That suggests that most migratory species have made it through several flips.
It may not be possible to demonstrate that the warming trend that occurred during the last part of the 20th century was actually caused by increasing CO2 to the exclusion of other factors.
One major issue is you need a data base of temperatures over centuries that are accurate and not “adjusted” and that doesn’t exist. We have fewer earth bound data collection centers now than in the past and they are normally very poorly sited.
The level of precision you can actually claim for the data in most cases is so shoddy that there is no way you can substantiate many of the changes they have been claimed have occurred. When your built in error factor could be a degree C or even more how can you claim some year was warmer by a small fraction of a degree? Sure, you can adjust the numbers and stick them in a spread sheet but the old rule is garbage in, garbage out. You results can’t be better than your raw data no matter how much the computer cost.
The other is that the integrity of the people doing the research has been demonstrated as being dubious based on what they did to to and with the data. At least some of the researchers appear to be incompetent when dealing with numbers even if you disregard other issues. You would not want these guys running your accounting department.