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A captivating new telecasting shows howEarth ’s magnetised fieldwent haywire and almost whole disappear during our planet ’s most recent " arctic reversal consequence , " around 41,000 long time ago . A haunting soundscape of " exotic - like " creaking sound emphasizes the strain put on our major planet ’s invisible protective carapace .
Earth ’s magnetic arena , or magnetosphere , first constitute up to 3.7 billion years agoand is bring forth by the swirling metallic oceanwithin our planet ’s out magnetic core . The house of cards ofmagnetismshields animation on Earth from solar radiation and eminent - energy cosmic ray . However , every so often , Earth ’s inner dynamo weakens , enabling the planet’smagnetic polesto swop .
A sped-up section of the new animation (without sound) shows how Earth’s magnetic North Pole (blue lines) briefly swapped over with the magnetic South Pole (red lines) before our planet’s magnetic field almost completely disappeared 41,000 years ago.
The last time this happenedwas around 41,000 eld ago , when the magnetosphere suddenly weakened and in short toss over the course of several centuries . Evidence of this geomagnetic excursion , sleep together as the Laschamp event , can be found in ancient lava flows , which contain unusually gamey ratios of certain isotope triggered by increased levels ofcosmic light beam . Past enquiry into fossilized tree rings also revealed that the magnetosphere was reduced to around 5 % of its current strong suit , enable solar irradiation topaint cockcrow across the equator .
Thenew video , released Oct. 10 by theEuropean Space Agency(ESA ) , shows how magnetic - field lines within the magnetosphere warped and break during the Laschamp event . The animation , which overlay around 3,000 year , was created using data point from ESA ’s Swarm commission , a trio of satellites that have been monitor the magnetosphere since 2013 . The data also serve the researchers create an unsettling " soundscape " to accompany the footage , which emphasize the immense air put on the magnetosphere during the event .
Related : What if Earth ’s magnetized line of business disappeared ?
" The process of transmute the sounds with data point is like to composing music from a account , " the research worker wrote in astatement . But instead of using melodic instrument , the team used recordings of innate noise , such as wood creaking and rocks falling , to make unknown " foreign - like sound . "
The same research squad antecedently used similar proficiency to produce another soundscape showcasing how the magnetosphere has changed over the retiring 100,000 years , harmonize toESA .
Other scientists have createdsimilarly eery audio recordingsof waves of blood plasma from the sun smashing into the magnetosphere in real time .
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Recentfluctuations in the position of Earth ’s magnetized poles , coupled with enquiry that unveiled the magnetosphere ismuch more susceptible to change than we antecedently thought , have antecedently actuate rumors that we may be on the brink of another polar reversal event , which could be potentially catastrophic for humanity .
However , this is untrue , and gelid reversal events commonly only happen every 300,000 old age , according toNASA .
