Magnetic Field Reversal

[pwdrive]

He has made a prediction the there will be a complete flip of the earths magnetic field in about a year or so and that the result of this will be a very large EMP that will knock out the grid systems and fry all magnetic storage media.

What utter rot! If it was April rather than August I would dismiss it as a 'fool's' prank.

The Earth's magnetic field has periodically reversed many tens of times (if not hundreds) during geological history. It is a slow process over many centuries where the field diminishes, changes polarity, then strengthens again. It does not cause an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) of any kind, it would have to occur virtually instantaneously to do so such as occurs with a thermo-nuclear explosion.

There has been recent evidence that the Earth's magnetic field has been weakening on a shorter timescale (over the last century or so) and predictions, if it continues on its current trend, that there will be virtually no detectable field by the end of this century. But it is far more likely to increase again before that happens as it is subject to minor variations over decades as well as long term cycles.

Even if the magnetic field was to disappear tomorrow, worrying about magnetic media surviving will be the least of anyone's concerns. The Earth's protective magnetosphere will have also disappeared and everything and everyone will be 'microwaved' by the solar wind and cosmic radiation! Hiding in the deepest mine will offer little protection in such a scenario.

Regards

Good point on the magnetosphere scenario, I will make that known on that other forum, thanks.

Lawrence.