A study conducted by geologists led by Arnaud Chulliat from the Paris Institute of Physics of the Earth showed that the speed of movement of the north magnetic pole of our planet has reached a record value for all time of observation.
The current speed of the pole shift is an impressive 64 kilometers per year. Now the north magnetic pole - the place where the arrows of all compasses in the world point - is located in Canada near Ellesmere Island.
Let us recall that scientists first identified the “point” of the north magnetic pole in 1831. In 1904, it was first recorded that it began to move in a northwest direction by about 15 kilometers per year. In 1989, the speed increased, and in 2007, geologists reported that the north magnetic pole was rushing towards Siberia at a speed of 55-60 kilometers per year.
According to geologists, the iron core of the Earth, with a solid core and an outer liquid layer, is responsible for all processes. Together these parts make up a kind of “dynamo”. Changes in the rotation of the molten component most likely determine the change in the Earth's magnetic field.
However, the core is inaccessible to direct observations; it can only be seen indirectly, and, accordingly, its magnetic field cannot be directly mapped. For this reason, scientists rely on changes occurring on the surface of the planet, as well as in the space around it.
Changing the Earth's magnetic field lines will undoubtedly affect the planet's biosphere. It is known, for example, that birds see the magnetic field, and cows even align their bodies along it
New data collected by French geologists showed that recently an area with a rapidly changing magnetic field appeared near the surface of the core, probably formed by an anomalously moving flow of the liquid component of the core. It is this area that is dragging the magnetic north pole away from Canada.
True, Arno cannot say with certainty that the north magnetic pole will ever cross the border of our country. Nobody can. "It's very difficult to make any predictions," Schullia says. After all, no one is able to predict the behavior of the kernel. Perhaps, a little later, an unusual vortex of the liquid interior of the planet will occur in another place, dragging along the magnetic poles.
By the way, scientists have long been saying that the magnetic poles can even change places, as has happened more than once in the history of the planet. This change can lead to serious consequences, for example, affecting the appearance of holes in the protective shell of the Earth.
The Earth's magnetic field may be subject to catastrophic changes
For some time now, scientists have noticed that the Earth's magnetic field is weakening, leaving some parts of our planet particularly vulnerable to radiation from space. This effect has already been felt by some satellites. But it remains unclear whether the weakened field will come to a complete collapse and a pole change (when the north pole becomes south)?
The question is not whether this will happen at all, but when it will happen, according to scientists who recently gathered at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. They don't yet know the answer to the last question. The reversal of the magnetic field is too chaotic.
Over the past century and a half (since the start of regular observations), scientists have recorded a 10% weakening of the field. If the current rate of change is maintained, it may disappear in one and a half to two thousand years. Particular weakness of the field was recorded off the coast of Brazil in the so-called South Atlantic Anomaly. Here, the structural features of the earth's core create a “dip” in the magnetic field, making it 30% weaker than in other places. The additional dose of radiation creates disruptions for satellites and spacecraft flying over the area. Even the Hubble Space Telescope was damaged.
A change in magnetic field lines is always preceded by its weakening, but the weakening of the field does not always lead to its reversal. The invisible shield can increase its strength back - and then the fields will not change, but it can happen later.
By studying marine sediments and lava flows, scientists can reconstruct patterns of magnetic field changes in the past. The iron contained in lava, for example, shows the direction of the then existing magnetic field, and its orientation does not change after the lava hardens. The oldest known change of fields was studied in this way from lava flows discovered in Greenland - their age is estimated at 16 million years. The time intervals between field changes can vary - from a thousand years to several millions.
So will there be a magnetic field reversal this time? Most likely not, scientists believe. Such events are quite rare. But even if this happens, nothing will threaten life on Earth. Only satellites and some aircraft will be subject to additional contact with radiation - the residual field is quite enough to provide protection to people, because there will be no more radiation than at the magnetic poles of the planet, where the field lines go into the ground.
But an interesting reconfiguration will take place. Before the fields stabilize again, our planet will have multiple magnetic poles, making the use of magnetic compasses extremely difficult. The collapse of the magnetic field will significantly increase the number of northern (and southern) lights. And you will have a lot of time to capture them on camera, because the field turning over will be very slow.
No one knows what awaits us in the near future, even academicians of the Russian Academy of Sciences make only guesses and assumptions...Probably because they know only about 4% of the matter of the Universe.
Recently, there have been various rumors that we are threatened by pole reversal and the planet’s magnetic field becoming zero. Despite the fact that scientists know little about the nature of the appearance of the planet’s magnetic shield, they confidently declare that this will not threaten us in the near future and tell us why.
Very often, illiterate people confuse the planet's geographic poles with magnetic poles. While the geographic poles are imaginary points that mark the Earth's axis of rotation, the magnetic poles cover a larger area, forming the Arctic Circle, within which the atmosphere is subject to bombardment by hard cosmic rays. The collision process in the upper atmosphere causes auroras and the glow of ionized atmospheric gas.
Since the atmosphere in the polar regions is thinner and denser, auroras can be admired from the ground. This phenomenon is beautiful, but very unfavorable for human health. And the reasons for this are not so much in magnetic storms as in the penetration of hard radiation into the Arctic Circle, which affects power lines, airplanes, trains, railway lines, mobile and radio communications... and, of course, the human body - his psyche and the immune system.
These holes are located over the South Atlantic and Arctic. They became known after analyzing data obtained from the Danish Orsted satellite and comparing them with earlier readings from other orbiters. It is believed that the “culprits” for the formation of the Earth’s magnetic field are the colossal flows of molten iron that surround the earth’s core. From time to time, giant vortices are formed in them, capable of causing streams of molten iron to change the direction of their movement. According to employees of the Danish Center for Planetary Science, such vortices have formed in the area of the North Pole and the South Atlantic. In turn, employees of the University of Leeds (Leeds University) stated that pole reversals usually occur once every half a million years.
However, 750 thousand years have already passed since the last change, so a change in the magnetic poles may occur in the very near future. This can cause significant changes in the lives of both people and animals. First, at the moment of a pole reversal, the level of solar radiation may increase significantly as the magnetic field temporarily weakens. Secondly, changing the direction of the magnetic field can disorient migrating birds and animals. And thirdly, scientists expect serious problems in the technological field, since, again, a change in the directions of the magnetic field will affect the operation of all devices connected with it in one way or another.
Vladimir Trukhin, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, professor, as well as dean of the Faculty of Physics of Moscow State University and head of the Department of Earth Physics, says: “The Earth has its own magnetic field. It is small in intensity, but nevertheless plays a huge role in the life of the Earth. You can immediately to say that life in the form in which it exists might not exist on Earth if there were no magnetic field. We have small protections from space - such as, for example, the ozone layer, which protects against ultraviolet radiation. The Earth's magnetic field lines protect us from powerful cosmic radioactive radiation. There are cosmic particles of very high energies, and if they reached the Earth's surface, they would act like any strong radioactivity, and what would happen on Earth is unknown." Leading employee of the institute. Evgeniy Shalamberidze believes that a similar shift of magnetic poles occurred on other planets of the solar system. Scientists believe that the most likely reason for this is the fact that the solar system passes through a certain zone of galactic space and experiences geomagnetic influence from other space systems nearby. Deputy Director of the St. Petersburg branch of the Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere and Radio Wave Propagation, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Oleg Raspopov believes that the constant geomagnetic field is actually not so constant. And it changes all the time. 2,500 years ago the magnetic field was one and a half times greater than it is now, and then (over 200 years) it decreased to the value we have now. In the history of the geomagnetic field, so-called inversions have constantly occurred, when a reversal of the geomagnetic poles occurred.
The geomagnetic north pole began to move and slowly moved into the southern hemisphere. At the same time, the magnitude of the geomagnetic field decreased, but not to zero, but to approximately 20-25 percent of the modern value. But along with this, there are so-called “excursions” in the geomagnetic field (this is in Russian terminology, and in foreign terminology, “excursions” of the geomagnetic field). When the magnetic pole begins to move, the inversion process seems to begin, but it does not end. The north geomagnetic pole can reach the equator, cross the equator, and then, instead of completely reversing its polarity, it returns to its previous position. The last “excursion” of the geomagnetic field was 2,800 years ago. A manifestation of such an “excursion” could be the observation of auroras in southern latitudes. And it seems that, indeed, such auroras were observed approximately 2,600 - 2,800 years ago. The process of “excursion” or “inversion” itself is not a matter of days or weeks, at best it is hundreds of years, maybe even thousands of years. This will not happen either tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.
The shift of magnetic poles has been recorded since 1885. Over the past 100 years, the magnetic pole in the southern hemisphere has moved almost 900 km and entered the Indian Ocean. The latest data on the state of the Arctic magnetic pole (moving towards the East Siberian world magnetic anomaly through the Arctic Ocean) showed that from 1973 to 1984 its travel was 120 km, from 1984 to 1994 - more than 150 km. It is characteristic that these data are calculated, but they were confirmed by specific measurements of the north magnetic pole. According to data at the beginning of 2002, the drift speed of the north magnetic pole increased from 10 km/year in the 70s to 40 km/year in 2001. In addition, the strength of the earth's magnetic field drops, and very unevenly. Thus, over the past 22 years it has decreased by an average of 1.7 percent, and in some regions - for example, in the South Atlantic Ocean - by 10 percent. However, in some places on our planet the magnetic field strength, contrary to the general trend, has even increased slightly. We emphasize that the acceleration of the movement of the poles (on average by 3 km/year) and their movement along the corridors of magnetic pole reversal (more than 400 paleoinversions made it possible to identify these corridors) makes us suspect that in this movement of the poles we should see not an excursion, but a polarity reversal Earth's magnetic field. The Earth's geomagnetic pole has shifted by 200 km.
This was recorded by instruments of the Central Military-Technical Institute. According to the leading employee of the institute, Evgeniy Shalamberidze, a similar shift of magnetic poles occurred on other planets of the solar system. The most likely reason for this, according to the scientist, is that the solar system passes through “a certain zone of galactic space and experiences geomagnetic influence from other space systems nearby.” Otherwise, according to Shalamberidze, “it is difficult to explain this phenomenon.” The “polarity reversal” influenced a number of processes occurring on Earth. Thus, “The Earth, through its faults and so-called geomagnetic points, discharges its excess energy into space, which cannot but affect both weather phenomena and the well-being of people,” Shalamberidze emphasized.
Our planet has already changed its poles... proof of this is the disappearance of certain civilizations without a trace. If for some reason the earth turns 180 degrees, then from such a sharp turn all the water will pour onto the land and flood the whole world.
In addition, the scientist said, “excess wave processes that occur when the Earth’s energy is released affect the rotation speed of our planet.” According to the Central Military-Technical Institute, “approximately every two weeks this speed slows down somewhat, and in the next two weeks there is a certain acceleration of its rotation, leveling out the average daily time of the Earth.” The changes that are taking place require comprehension to be taken into account in practical activities. In particular, according to Evgeny Shalamberidze, the increase in the number of plane crashes around the world may be associated with this phenomenon, RIA Novosti reports. The scientist also noted that the displacement of the Earth’s geomagnetic pole does not affect the geographic poles of the planet, that is, the points of the North and South Poles remained in place.
According to modern ideas, it was formed approximately 4.5 billion years ago, and from that moment our planet has been surrounded by a magnetic field. Everything on Earth, including people, animals and plants, is affected by it.
The magnetic field extends to an altitude of about 100,000 km (Fig. 1). It deflects or captures solar wind particles that are harmful to all living organisms. These charged particles form the Earth's radiation belt, and the entire region of near-Earth space in which they are located is called magnetosphere(Fig. 2). On the side of the Earth illuminated by the Sun, the magnetosphere is limited by a spherical surface with a radius of approximately 10-15 Earth radii, and on the opposite side it is extended like a comet's tail over a distance of up to several thousand Earth radii, forming a geomagnetic tail. The magnetosphere is separated from the interplanetary field by a transition region.
Earth's magnetic poles
The axis of the earth's magnet is inclined relative to the earth's rotation axis by 12°. It is located approximately 400 km away from the center of the Earth. The points at which this axis intersects the surface of the planet are magnetic poles. The Earth's magnetic poles do not coincide with the true geographic poles. Currently, the coordinates of the magnetic poles are as follows: north - 77° north latitude. and 102°W; southern - (65° S and 139° E).
Rice. 1. The structure of the Earth’s magnetic field
Rice. 2. Structure of the magnetosphere
Lines of force running from one magnetic pole to another are called magnetic meridians. An angle is formed between the magnetic and geographic meridians, called magnetic declination. Every place on Earth has its own declination angle. In the Moscow region the declination angle is 7° to the east, and in Yakutsk it is about 17° to the west. This means that the northern end of the compass needle in Moscow deviates by T to the right of the geographic meridian passing through Moscow, and in Yakutsk - by 17° to the left of the corresponding meridian.
A freely suspended magnetic needle is located horizontally only on the line of the magnetic equator, which does not coincide with the geographical one. If you move north of the magnetic equator, the northern end of the needle will gradually descend. The angle formed by a magnetic needle and a horizontal plane is called magnetic inclination. At the North and South magnetic poles, the magnetic inclination is greatest. It is equal to 90°. At the North Magnetic Pole, a freely suspended magnetic needle will be installed vertically with its northern end down, and at the South Magnetic Pole its southern end will go down. Thus, the magnetic needle shows the direction of the magnetic field lines above the earth's surface.
Over time, the position of the magnetic poles relative to the earth's surface changes.
The magnetic pole was discovered by explorer James C. Ross in 1831, hundreds of kilometers from its current location. On average, it moves 15 km in one year. In recent years, the speed of movement of the magnetic poles has increased sharply. For example, the North Magnetic Pole is currently moving at a speed of about 40 km per year.
The reversal of the Earth's magnetic poles is called magnetic field inversion.
Throughout the geological history of our planet, the Earth's magnetic field has changed its polarity more than 100 times.
The magnetic field is characterized by intensity. In some places on Earth, magnetic field lines deviate from the normal field, forming anomalies. For example, in the area of the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly (KMA), the field strength is four times higher than normal.
There are daily variations in the Earth's magnetic field. The reason for these changes in the Earth's magnetic field is electric currents flowing in the atmosphere at high altitudes. They are caused by solar radiation. Under the influence of the solar wind, the Earth's magnetic field is distorted and acquires a “trail” in the direction from the Sun, which extends for hundreds of thousands of kilometers. The main cause of the solar wind, as we already know, is the enormous ejections of matter from the solar corona. As they move towards the Earth, they turn into magnetic clouds and lead to strong, sometimes extreme disturbances on the Earth. Particularly strong disturbances of the Earth's magnetic field - magnetic storms. Some magnetic storms begin suddenly and almost simultaneously across the entire Earth, while others develop gradually. They can last for several hours or even days. Magnetic storms often occur 1-2 days after a solar flare due to the Earth passing through a stream of particles ejected by the Sun. Based on the delay time, the speed of such a corpuscular flow is estimated at several million km/h.
During strong magnetic storms, the normal operation of the telegraph, telephone and radio is disrupted.
Magnetic storms are often observed at latitude 66-67° (in the aurora zone) and occur simultaneously with auroras.
The structure of the Earth's magnetic field varies depending on the latitude of the area. The permeability of the magnetic field increases towards the poles. Over the polar regions, the magnetic field lines are more or less perpendicular to the earth's surface and have a funnel-shaped configuration. Through them, part of the solar wind from the dayside penetrates into the magnetosphere and then into the upper atmosphere. During magnetic storms, particles from the tail of the magnetosphere rush here, reaching the boundaries of the upper atmosphere in the high latitudes of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. It is these charged particles that cause the auroras here.
So, magnetic storms and daily changes in the magnetic field are explained, as we have already found out, by solar radiation. But what is the main reason that creates the permanent magnetism of the Earth? Theoretically, it was possible to prove that 99% of the Earth’s magnetic field is caused by sources hidden inside the planet. The main magnetic field is caused by sources located in the depths of the Earth. They can be roughly divided into two groups. The main part of them is associated with processes in the earth's core, where, due to continuous and regular movements of electrically conductive matter, a system of electric currents is created. The other is due to the fact that the rocks of the earth’s crust, when magnetized by the main electric field (the field of the core), create their own magnetic field, which is summed with the magnetic field of the core.
In addition to the magnetic field around the Earth, there are other fields: a) gravitational; b) electric; c) thermal.
Gravitational field The earth is called the gravity field. It is directed along a plumb line perpendicular to the surface of the geoid. If the Earth had the shape of an ellipsoid of revolution and masses were evenly distributed in it, then it would have a normal gravitational field. The difference between the intensity of the real gravitational field and the theoretical one is a gravity anomaly. Different material composition and density of rocks cause these anomalies. But other reasons are also possible. They can be explained by the following process - the equilibrium of the solid and relatively light earth's crust on the heavier upper mantle, where the pressure of the overlying layers is equalized. These currents cause tectonic deformations, the movement of lithospheric plates and thereby create the macrorelief of the Earth. Gravity holds the atmosphere, hydrosphere, people, animals on Earth. Gravity must be taken into account when studying processes in the geographic envelope. The term " geotropism" are the growth movements of plant organs, which, under the influence of the force of gravity, always ensure the vertical direction of growth of the primary root perpendicular to the surface of the Earth. Gravity biology uses plants as experimental subjects.
If gravity is not taken into account, it is impossible to calculate the initial data for launching rockets and spacecraft, to carry out gravimetric exploration of ore deposits, and, finally, the further development of astronomy, physics and other sciences is impossible.
Earth's magnetic poles
You take the compass in your hands, pull the lever towards you so that the magnetic needle drops to the point of the needle. When the arrow calms down, try positioning it in a different direction. But nothing will work out for you. No matter how much you deviate the arrow from its original position, after it calms down, one end will always point to the north, the other to the south.
What force makes the compass needle stubbornly return to its original position? Everyone asks themselves a similar question, looking at a slightly oscillating, as if living, magnetic needle.
From the history of discoveries
At first, people believed that this force was the magnetic attraction of the North Star. Subsequently, it was found that the compass needle is controlled by the Earth, since our planet is a huge magnet.
But the magnetic needle is not always precisely directed along the north-south line, but has a deviation from this direction. This deviation is called magnetic declination.
Man's acquaintance with the amazing properties of earthly magnetism took place at the dawn of historical time. Already in ancient times, people knew magnetic iron ore - magnetite. But who and when determined that natural magnets are always oriented in the same way in space in relation to the geographic poles of the Earth is not known for sure. In Chinese treatises dating back to the 11th century BC. e., there are fragments that can be interpreted as evidence of the use of a compass for navigation purposes. The first known descriptions of a compass appeared in China only 23 centuries later - in the 11th century, and in Europe even later - in the 12th century. We owe the first reliable report about a magnetic compass that appeared in Europe to the English monk Alexander Neckam. Around 1187, he described a device consisting of an arrow indicating direction, and in his compass the arrow floated rather than was suspended on a thread. Another important milestone in the history of geomagnetism is a letter written in 1269 by Pierre de Mericourt. This message, in particular, said that a natural magnet has two poles and that these poles tend to establish themselves along the geographic meridian, pointing to the poles of the earth - north and south.
There is some information that already X. Columbus knew that the compass needle deviates from the geographical meridian and that this deviation is not the same in different parts of the Earth.
“...In September 1492, many Spaniards gathered on the embankment. Their gazes were directed to the sea, where three ships were rocking on the waves. These ships had an unusual voyage ahead of them: to cross an almost completely unknown ocean and reach fabulous India...
The ships set sail. The native Spanish coast became further and further every hour.
On September 13, the sailors were surprised to discover that the compass needle had changed its direction, deviating to the west. The next day, a deviation was noticed again. The navigator reported to X. Columbus that the needle of the ship's compass had deviated from its intended direction by 11 degrees in four days.
Sitting in his cabin, Columbus thought for a long time. He could not explain this behavior of the compass needle. Maybe turn back? But there, in Spain, shame awaits him, and ahead, if he discovers new lands, glory and honor await him. And Columbus decided to continue his journey. To reassure the sailors, he told them that it was not the compass needle that had changed its direction, but the North Star had moved somewhat from its place. Therefore, there is nothing to worry about and the journey continues.
The sailors calmed down, and soon the ships reached the New World."
The deviation of the magnetic compass needle, discovered by Columbus, served as an impetus for the study of this phenomenon, since navigators needed accurate information about the magnitude of the magnetic declination in various areas of our planet. From this time on, they begin to determine declinations in different places on the Earth and, based on these data, create magnetic maps that show in which direction the magnetic compass needle deviates in a given place and by how many degrees.
In 1544, Hartmann, a pastor from Nuremberg, established that the directions to the geographic and magnetic poles are different, and the angle between these directions (declination) depends on the coordinates of the observation site. The next most important step was taken by Robert Norman, who discovered another parameter of the geomagnetic field, namely inclination. Norman discovered that a freely suspended magnet needle not only aligns itself in the direction of the magnetic poles, but also tilts in relation to the horizontal plane. Thanks to this observation, Norman made a truly fundamental conclusion that the source of the force that directs the arrow is located inside the Earth, and not outside it.
In 1600, William Gilbert, the personal physician of the English Empress Elizabeth 1, based on his endless experiments to which he devoted his entire life, came to the idea that the Earth itself was a great magnet. The 17th century was marked by new discoveries in the field of geomagnetism. And the most remarkable of them can be considered the discovery of the “secular course” phenomenon. Edmund Halley, the royal astronomer at the English court, having made numerous repeated measurements of the declination both in London and in other points, proved that it is subject to systematic regular changes. In the 18th - 19th centuries, such outstanding scientific encyclopedists as Humboldt, Gay-Lussac, Maxwell and Gauss dealt with the problems of geomagnetism. Among the projects organized by Gauss and Humboldt was, in particular, the “Göttingen Union”, unprecedented in scale in the history of geomagnetism. As part of this project, simultaneous measurements of the geomagnetic field were carried out at 50 points on the globe over a period of 5 years (from 1836 to 1841) during 28 time intervals.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, in 1909, a floating magnetic laboratory was launched - the Carnegie yacht, which belonged to the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of the Carnegie Institution in Washington. For almost 20 years, magnetic field measurements were made on it in various points of the World Ocean, and in 1953, the Soviet non-magnetic schooner “Zarya” set off on its first voyage, which over three decades of constant expeditions passed all the oceans, leaving 350 thousand people behind. nautical miles. In 1947, Soviet physicist Ya.I. Frenkel, to explain the reasons for the emergence of the magnetic field, proposed the hypothesis of the earth's dynamo, which was subsequently developed and significantly supplemented by other scientists and turned into a coherent theory of the origin of the geomagnetic field. An epoch-making event in the history of magnetology was the explanation of the nature of ocean magnetic anomalies. The honor of this discovery belongs to two scientists - D. Matthews and F. Vine. In their only joint paper, published in 1963 in the journal Nature, entitled “Magnetic Anomalies over Ocean Ridges,” they proposed a model that explained all the major features of oceanic magnetic anomalies with extraordinary ease and grace. This work formed the basis of all modern studies of the geomagnetic field.
Magnetic poles – magnetosphere
Compared to the magnetic fields that we encounter in everyday life (speaker cores, alternating current magnetic pulses in household appliances, lamps, power lines, etc.), the Earth's magnetic field is a very weak field. However, this so-called main geomagnetic field, which is of a planetary nature, exists everywhere on earth. People learned to measure some of its elements even before the discovery of the magnetic field itself. Thus, the first maps of magnetic declination, which caused so much trouble for ancient sailors, appeared in the middle of the 16th century.
The realization of the fact that the magnetic poles do not coincide with the geographical ones put everything in its place and made it possible to understand that declination is the angle between the direction north and the magnetic meridian along which the compass needle is set. The value of inclination - the angle between the horizontal plane and the magnetic needle - has been measured for just as long.
Nowadays, the magnetic field on the surface of our planet has been studied in sufficient detail. It turned out that it is not constant at all, but is constantly changing. All year round there are hundreds of magnetic observatories, dozens of special ships and aircraft, numerous teams of magnetologists in various parts of the globe.
It turned out that the magnetic field is subject to a variety of changes. Some of them are regular and are observed daily, in particular the so-called diurnal variations, which are characterized by cyclic fluctuations in magnetic field strength and magnetic declination. Other variations are no less well known - short-period oscillations, the duration of which does not exceed several minutes, as well as magnetic storms, whose duration can be measured in days.
All these variations are directly related to the activity of the Sun. On “quiet magnetic days,” the interaction of the solar wind with ionospheric currents causes smooth, regular changes in the components of the magnetic field with a period close to 24 hours. Magnetic storms mentioned above are irregular, sporadic disturbances of the Earth's magnetosphere. They begin at the moment when the pressure of the solar wind on the magnetosphere changes sharply and it is unable to “divert” the flow of high-energy particles from the Earth. As a result, they penetrate the ionosphere, disrupting the regular structure of near-Earth electrical currents. Magnetic storms vary in intensity and duration, but, as a rule, the complete restoration of “calmness” of the geomagnetic field occurs 2-3 days after the start of the storm.
In the event that the pressure jump (density) of the solar wind is not able to “break through” the magnetosphere, then the distortions of the magnetic field lines are local in nature and magnetic disturbances do not cover the entire globe, but only a certain area. They are very frequent “guests” in the northern regions of the globe. Auroras are also most often associated with these disturbances.
During the year, there are two periods of sharp increases in magnetic activity - these are the periods of spring and autumn solstices, that is, March and September. At this time, the number of magnetic storms increases significantly. If on average 1-2 magnetic storms occur per month, then in March and September their number increases several times, and the autumn peak of magnetic activity is more energetic - in the fall the number of magnetic storms is greater than in the spring, and can reach 7-8 per month .
The global 11-year cycle of solar activity, which largely determines all natural processes on earth, has a very strong influence on the frequency of storms. By the way, 2003 was the year of maximum solar activity.
In addition to such short-term fluctuations of the magnetic field, there are also much slower, smooth changes in its parameters, with a period of several hundred years. They are associated with processes occurring inside the earth and are called secular variations. Secular variations can be likened to the breathing of a magnetic field - at each point on the earth’s surface the direction of the magnetic field periodically changes, and the magnitude of the magnetization of the planet as a whole does not remain constant. The history of regular magnetic observations goes back a little over 100 years, so information about secular variations obtained from these measurements, of course, could not be complete. For a long time, it seemed that any attempts by magnetologists to look into the distant past of our planet, to find out how its magnetic field changed over time, were doomed to failure. However, Nature itself had in store for people a wonderful clue that helped solve one of the most tricky mysteries of the evolution of the earth.
In the middle of the 19th century, the phenomenon of thermoremanent magnetization of lavas - paleomagnetism - was discovered. Gradually, step by step, scientists have established that the carriers of the ancient geomagnetic field can be rocks of very different origins, both igneous and sedimentary.
It turned out that rocks erupted in the form of lava during volcanic eruptions have an amazing ability to store information about the Earth’s magnetic field. Rocks heated to a temperature of 500-700°C, as they cool, acquire magnetization, the magnitude and direction of which correspond to the Earth's magnetic field that acted on the rock during cooling. This magnetization persists for millions of years and, like a tape, brings to us evidence from the distant past of the planet. By determining the age of lava formations using geological methods and “reading” the paleomagnetic information stored in them, it is possible to reliably restore the history of the earth’s magnetic field.
Paleomagnetic studies have revealed irrefutable evidence of repeated inversions (pole reversals) of the geomagnetic field in past eras. It turned out that the magnetic poles changed places more than once. Thanks to the achievements of physicists who have developed methods for determining the absolute age of rocks, paleomagnetologists have the opportunity not only to record the main events in the history of the geomagnetic field (primarily inversions), but also to determine their duration and the absolute time of the beginning and end of the inversions - that is, to create a time scale ( time scale) of geomagnetic field reversals. Magnetologists call this scale magnetochronological.
The first such scale was rather “short” - it covered a period of only 3.5 million years and was not very detailed. The fact is that lavas, for the most part, erupted only in certain tectonomagmatic epochs, in a relatively narrow period.
time interval. Therefore, it became clear that by studying only the lavas of volcanic eruptions, it would not be possible to “read” the entire history of the earth’s magnetic field.
The situation changed radically as soon as large-scale studies of the magnetic field of the oceans began. The very first continuous measurements along lines crossing the Atlantic Ocean revealed sharp differences in the structure of the ocean's magnetic field compared to land. The result was truly sensational. It turned out that instead of a complex form of magnetic anomalies on land, which varies greatly from area to area, oceanic magnetic anomalies in all oceans have a regular, systematic character.
The magnetic field of the World Ocean consists of parallel stripes with an alternating direction of magnetization of rocks - it alternately coincides with the direction of the modern magnetic field (direct magnetization), or is directly opposite to it (reverse magnetization). These anomalies stretch for thousands of kilometers, sometimes without any distortion. For example, in the Atlantic Ocean they can be traced from Iceland to Cape Horn.
Ocean anomalies are of great intensity and enormous size. But perhaps the most striking feature of these magnetic stripes is their mirror symmetry relative to the mid-ocean ridge, that is, any positive or negative anomaly on one side of the ridge necessarily has a “twin” on the other. Moreover, the “twin” anomalies are located at the same distance from the ridge axis.
Magnetic prospecting geophysicists, accustomed to explaining magnetic field anomalies by the peculiarities of the geological structure and material composition of rocks in the study area, were at a loss: the usual, well-developed models and schemes for land did not “work” when applied to the ocean. However, explanations for this phenomenon were not long in coming - the revolution that took place in geology raised the global tectonics of lithospheric plates to the pedestal of earth sciences. She presented magnetologists with a truly priceless gift - the opportunity to study the history of the geomagnetic field over the entire existence of the oceans.
Through the joint efforts of paleomagnetologists and marine magnetometers, a very detailed magnetochronological scale was created - the history of geomagnetic field reversals over 4 billion years. Moreover, just a quick glance at this scale is enough to notice that the life of the Earth’s magnetic field is quite stormy.
The magnetic poles of our planet change places from time to time - a magnetic field inversion occurs. The South Magnetic Pole becomes the North Pole and vice versa. During such periods, the direction of the magnetic field turns out to be opposite to the modern one. The process of “rotation” of the poles takes at least 10 thousand years. And despite the enormous achievements of magnetology and geophysics in recent decades, the reasons for such transformations still remain a mystery.
However, systematic detailed studies of inversions have made it possible to suggest that perhaps there is a connection between the periodic change of flora and fauna on Earth and cyclic changes in the magnetic field. Many researchers believe that during the period of polarity change, the magnetic field weakens very significantly or even disappears altogether, and at this time the earth remains defenseless against the flow of cosmic radiation, which has a tremendous impact on the planet’s biosphere. The most daring hypotheses associate even the appearance of man with a change in the polarity of the magnetic poles.
It is too early to say how fair these or other assumptions are. One thing is certain: the very existence of life on our planet is impossible without a magnetic field that protects all living things from the harmful effects of cosmic radiation.
The Earth's external magnetic field - the magnetosphere - extends in outer space to more than 20 Earth diameters and reliably protects our planet from a powerful flow of cosmic particles.
STRUCTURE OF THE MAGNETOSPHERE: solar wind, shock wave front, interplanetary magnetic field, tail of the magnetosphere, magnetopause (magnetosphere boundary), night side of the magnetopause, day side of the magnetopause, point of intersection of field lines, ionosphere, particles captured by field lines, plasma sphere, aurora oval .
The most striking manifestation of the magnetosphere are magnetic storms - rapid chaotic oscillations of all components of the geomagnetic field. Often, magnetic storms cover the entire globe: they are recorded by all magnetic observatories in the world - from Antarctica to Spitsbergen, and the type of magnetograms obtained at the most remote points of the Earth is surprisingly similar. Therefore, it is no coincidence that such magnetic storms are called global.
The amplitude of magnetic field oscillations during a storm is hundreds or even thousands of times higher than the level of oscillations on “calm” days, however, in relation to the main (internal) magnetic field of the Earth they usually increase by no more than 1-3%. The external magnetic field is the field of currents flowing in the ionosphere - the outer shell of the Earth's atmosphere, located approximately at a distance of 100 to 600 km from its surface. This shell is saturated with partially ionized gas - plasma, which is penetrated by the geomagnetic field. The rotation of the Earth inevitably leads to the rotation of its gaseous outer shells, which, in addition to Earth's gravity, experience pressure from the solar wind.
Magnetic storms
Magnetic storms have a strong impact on radio communications, telecommunication lines and power electrical installations. Thus, during a strong magnetic storm on February 11, 1958, which covered the entire globe, radio communications were stopped in many places.
Electric currents caused in the Earth by a magnetic storm in Sweden were so great that the electrical insulating material on the cables caught fire, fuses and transformers burned out, and the signaling on the railways was interrupted.
Why do magnetic storms occur?
Why do magnetic storms occur? It turns out that the Sun is to blame for this, or more precisely, the processes occurring on this star, the closest to us.
It has been established that when magnetic storms occur on Earth, spots are observed on the Sun, and exceptionally strong explosions occur.
It is not always the Sun's fault that the compass needle fluctuates. There are places on the globe where the needle is influenced by rocks.
It is known that all rocks have magnetic properties. But among them, igneous crystalline rocks are the most magnetic.
Therefore, where crystalline rocks of a certain composition occur at depth, magnetic anomalies are observed. In such places on Earth, the compass needle, instead of pointing north, may turn to the west, east or even south.
The strongest magnetic anomalies occur in areas where iron ore rocks occur at depth. This is why geologists have long been searching for minerals using a compass. For example, the world's largest iron ore deposit was discovered - the Kursk magnetic anomaly, as well as the Sokolovsko-Sarbaiskoye iron ore deposit in Kazakhstan.
Recently, scientists have come to the conclusion that the magnetic properties of the Earth affect not only the magnetic compass needle, but also living organisms.
The influence of the magnetic properties of the Earth on living organisms
Those of you who breed fish in an aquarium know that they can be trained so that, after you knock on the glass of the aquarium, they will swim to a certain place where they are usually given food. Tapping can be replaced by lighting a light bulb and, as recently discovered, a magnet. It turns out that the fish feel its effect.
Humans, as well as animals, are even more sensitive to processes that occur periodically on the Sun (strong explosions, the appearance of spots). These processes, as you now know, are caused by magnetic storms.
Scientists have long noticed that the Sun's violent activity occurs after about 11 years. They also noticed an eleven-year period in the life of some organisms. For example, if you carefully examine the annual rings on the cut of an old tree, you will notice that the thickness of these rings is not the same. The frequency of occurrence of wider and narrower rings has a certain pattern - it reflects the eleven-year cycle of solar activity.
A huge amount of material has been collected on the recurrence of mass diseases among people and animals. And again, a relationship has been established between epidemics and changes in solar activity. Thus, the flu “occurs” in years of maximum solar activity, and foot and mouth disease, this scourge of livestock farming, on the contrary, occurs in years of low solar activity.
Very interesting data have been obtained regarding diphtheria. It was noted that the disease flared up during years of minimum solar activity.
During the period of a restless Sun, tree growth increases, hordes of insects - agricultural pests - multiply catastrophically or suddenly disappear.
It may seem surprising, but the number of car accidents, according to statistics, usually increases - and often quadruples! - on the second day after... solar flares. With the help of special instruments, it was noticed that during solar flares, people’s reaction to signals slows down, and, moreover, several times compared to days of a quiet Sun.
In some countries, including the Soviet Union, a special Sun service has been organized. For example, on some beaches there are magnetographs that record fluctuations in the earth's magnetism. When the weather on the Sun turns bad, people without a device do not notice it! the sea still sparkles and shimmers in the sun’s rays and there’s not a cloud in the sky. And the magnetograph reports: disturbances are occurring on the Sun. Doctors, having learned about this, manage to protect their patients from the solar weather in time.
Conclusion
Many people ask: isn’t the magnetic compass obsolete these days? After all, now navigators have such precise instruments as a gyrocompass and various radar devices. Yes, besides, on ships made of metal, the magnetic needle is unlikely to show the correct direction. After all, it is known that any iron thing significantly deflects; arrow.
And yet the small moving arrow still serves people today. Any modern ship must have one or two magnetic compasses installed. In addition to the compass, the tumbler has a map on which the magnetic declination value for each point is indicated.
Knowing the magnitude of the magnetic declination and having the readings of the ship's compass, the navigator introduces a correction to them and determines the true course of the ship. For example, in the Baltic Sea the magnetic declination is 4-6 degrees, the declination is east. This means that the compass needle is tilted east by 6 degrees from the true north-south direction. To determine the true course of the ship, you need to correct the compass reading by 6 degrees.
Our scientists have found a way to get rid of the deviation of the compass needle under the influence of iron objects located on the ship (such a deviation is called deviation). To do this, special magnets and iron objects are placed around the compass in a certain order.
Thanks to the science of deviation, the magnetic compass has remained a faithful assistant to sailors on iron ships.
In the 20th century, with the advent of aviation, the need arose to use a magnetic compass on airplanes. In this case, the destruction of compass deviation on airplanes is carried out in the same way as on ships.
It is interesting to note that it is not only humans who use the power of earth magnetism (for example, for navigation). There is some reason to believe that birds, which surprise us with their ability to find places in which they were once born and lived during their flights, also use these powers.
Not long ago, interesting experiments were carried out with carrier pigeons, which, as is known, are distinguished by their ability to determine their permanent location. Five pigeons were taken far from the city in which they were located. Released into the wild, the birds unmistakably returned back. Then a small magnet was tied under the wings of each pigeon and the experiment was repeated. It turned out that only one pigeon out of five returned home, and then after a long wandering on the way.
L. Tarasov
Fragment from the book: Tarasov L.V. Terrestrial magnetism. - Dolgoprudny: Publishing House "Intelligence", 2012.
Science and life // Illustrations
The edge of the ice shelf now named Ross.
Route of the Amundsen expedition of 1903-1906.
The drift path of the South Magnetic Pole based on the results of expeditions of different years.
Daily path according to the results of the 1994 expedition, which passes the South Magnetic Pole on a calm day (inner oval) and on a magnetically active day (outer oval). The middle point is located in the western part of the island of Ellef-Ringnes and has coordinates 78°18’N. w. and 104°00’W. d. It has shifted relative to James Ross’s starting point by almost 1000 km!
The path of magnetic pole drift in Antarctica from 1841 to 2000. Shown are the positions of the North Magnetic Pole established during expeditions in 1841 (James Ross), 1909, 1912, 1952, 2000. Black squares mark some stationary stations in Antarctica.
“Our universal mother Earth is a big magnet!” - said the English physicist and doctor William Gilbert, who lived in the 16th century. More than four hundred years ago, he made the correct conclusion that the Earth is a spherical magnet and its magnetic poles are the points where the magnetic needle is oriented vertically. But Gilbert was wrong in believing that the Earth's magnetic poles coincide with its geographic poles. They don't match. Moreover, if the positions of the geographic poles are unchanged, then the positions of the magnetic poles change over time.
1831: First determination of the coordinates of the magnetic pole in the Northern Hemisphere
In the first half of the 19th century, the first searches for magnetic poles were undertaken based on direct measurements of magnetic inclination on the ground. (Magnetic inclination is the angle by which the compass needle deviates under the influence of the Earth’s magnetic field in the vertical plane. - Ed.)
The English navigator John Ross (1777-1856) sailed in May 1829 on the small steamer Victoria from the coast of England, heading to the Arctic coast of Canada. Like many daredevils before him, Ross hoped to find a northwest sea route from Europe to East Asia. But in October 1830, ice trapped the Victoria at the eastern tip of the peninsula, which Ross named Boothia Land (in honor of the expedition's sponsor, Felix Booth).
Trapped in the ice off the coast of Butia Earth, the Victoria was forced to stay here for the winter. The mate on this expedition was John Ross's young nephew, James Clark Ross (1800-1862). At that time, it had already become common practice to take with you on such trips all the necessary instruments for magnetic observations, and James took advantage of this. During the long winter months, he walked along the coast of Butia with a magnetometer and made magnetic observations.
He understood that the magnetic pole must be somewhere nearby - after all, the magnetic needle invariably showed very large inclinations. By plotting the measured values on a map, James Clark Ross soon realized where to look for this unique point with the vertical direction of the magnetic field. In the spring of 1831, he, along with several members of the Victoria crew, sailed 200 km towards the west coast of Butia and on June 1, 1831 at Cape Adelaide with coordinates 70°05’ N. w. and 96°47’W. d. found that the magnetic inclination was 89°59'. This is how the coordinates of the magnetic pole in the Northern Hemisphere were determined for the first time - in other words, the coordinates of the South Magnetic Pole.
1841: First determination of the coordinates of the magnetic pole in the Southern Hemisphere
In 1840, the grown-up James Clark Ross set out on the ships Erebus and Terror on his famous voyage to the magnetic pole in the Southern Hemisphere. On December 27, Ross's ships first encountered icebergs and already on New Year's Eve 1841 crossed the Antarctic Circle. Very soon the Erebus and the Terror found themselves in front of the pack ice that stretched from edge to edge of the horizon. On January 5, Ross made the bold decision to go forward, straight onto the ice, and go as deep as possible. And after just a few hours of such an assault, the ships unexpectedly emerged into a more ice-free space: the pack ice was replaced by individual ice floes scattered here and there.
On the morning of January 9, Ross unexpectedly discovered an ice-free sea ahead of him! This was his first discovery on this journey: he discovered the sea, which was later called by his own name - the Ross Sea. To the right of the course, mountainous, snow-covered land was discovered, which forced Ross's ships to sail south and which, it seemed, was not going to end. Sailing along the coast, Ross, of course, did not miss the opportunity to discover the southernmost lands for the glory of the British kingdom; This is how Queen Victoria Land was discovered. At the same time, he was worried that on the way to the magnetic pole the coast could become an insurmountable obstacle.
Meanwhile, the behavior of the compass became more and more strange. Ross, who had extensive experience in magnetometric measurements, understood that no more than 800 km remained to the magnetic pole. No one had ever come so close to him before. It soon became clear that Ross’s fears were not in vain: the magnetic pole was clearly somewhere to the right, and the coast stubbornly directed the ships further and further south.
As long as the path was open, Ross did not give up. It was important for him to collect at least as much magnetometric data as possible at different points on the coast of Victoria Land. On January 28, the expedition received the most amazing surprise of the entire trip: a huge awakened volcano grew on the horizon. Above him hung a dark cloud of smoke, colored by fire, which erupted from the vent in a column. Ross gave the name Erebus to this volcano, and gave the name Terror to the neighboring one, which was extinct and somewhat smaller.
Ross tried to go even further south, but very soon a completely unimaginable picture appeared before his eyes: along the entire horizon, as far as the eye could see, stretched a white stripe, which became higher and higher as it approached! As the ships came closer, it became clear that in front of them to the right and left was a huge endless ice wall 50 meters high, completely flat on top, without any cracks on the side facing the sea. This was the edge of the ice shelf that now bears the name Ross.
In mid-February 1841, after a 300-kilometer voyage along the ice wall, Ross decided to stop further attempts to find a loophole. From that moment on, there was only the road home ahead.
Ross's expedition cannot be considered a failure. After all, he was able to measure the magnetic inclination at many points around the coast of Victoria Land and thereby establish the position of the magnetic pole with high accuracy. Ross indicated the following coordinates of the magnetic pole: 75°05’ S. latitude, 154°08’ e. d. The minimum distance separating the ships of his expedition from this point was only 250 km. It is Ross's measurements that should be considered the first reliable determination of the coordinates of the magnetic pole in Antarctica (North Magnetic Pole).
Coordinates of the magnetic pole in the Northern Hemisphere in 1904
73 years have passed since James Ross determined the coordinates of the magnetic pole in the Northern Hemisphere, and now the famous Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen (1872-1928) has undertaken a search for the magnetic pole in this hemisphere. However, the search for the magnetic pole was not the only goal of Amundsen's expedition. The main goal was to open the northwest sea route from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. And he achieved this goal - in 1903-1906 he sailed from Oslo, past the shores of Greenland and Northern Canada to Alaska on the small fishing vessel Gjoa.
Amundsen subsequently wrote: “I wanted my childhood dream of a northwest sea route to be combined in this expedition with another, much more important scientific goal: finding the current location of the magnetic pole.”
He approached this scientific task with all seriousness and carefully prepared for its implementation: he studied the theory of geomagnetism from leading specialists in Germany; I also purchased magnetometric instruments there. Practicing working with them, Amundsen traveled all over Norway in the summer of 1902.
By the beginning of the first winter of his journey, in 1903, Amundsen reached King William Island, which was very close to the magnetic pole. The magnetic inclination here was 89°24'.
Deciding to spend the winter on the island, Amundsen simultaneously created a real geomagnetic observatory here, which carried out continuous observations for many months.
The spring of 1904 was devoted to observations “in the field” in order to determine the coordinates of the pole as accurately as possible. Amundsen was successful and discovered that the position of the magnetic pole had shifted noticeably to the north relative to the point at which the expedition of James Ross found it. It turned out that from 1831 to 1904 the magnetic pole moved 46 km to the north.
Looking ahead, we note that there is evidence that during this 73-year period the magnetic pole did not just move slightly to the north, but rather described a small loop. Around 1850, it first stopped moving from northwest to southeast and only then began a new journey to the north, which continues today.
Drift of the magnetic pole in the Northern Hemisphere from 1831 to 1994
The next time the location of the magnetic pole in the Northern Hemisphere was determined was in 1948. A months-long expedition to the Canadian fjords was not needed: after all, the place could now be reached in just a few hours - by air. This time, the magnetic pole in the Northern Hemisphere was discovered on the shores of Lake Allen on Prince of Wales Island. The maximum inclination here was 89°56’. It turned out that since the time of Amundsen, that is, since 1904, the pole has “moved” to the north by as much as 400 km.
Since then, the exact location of the magnetic pole in the Northern Hemisphere (South Magnetic Pole) has been determined regularly by Canadian magnetologists at intervals of about 10 years. Subsequent expeditions took place in 1962, 1973, 1984, 1994.
Not far from the location of the magnetic pole in 1962, on Cornwallis Island, in the town of Resolute Bay (74°42'N, 94°54'W), a geomagnetic observatory was built. Nowadays, traveling to the South Magnetic Pole is just a fairly short helicopter ride from Resolute Bay. It is not surprising that with the development of communications in the 20th century, tourists began to visit this remote town in northern Canada more and more often.
Let us pay attention to the fact that when speaking about the magnetic poles of the Earth, we are actually talking about certain averaged points. Since the time of Amundsen's expedition, it has become clear that even over the course of one day, the magnetic pole does not stand still, but makes small “walks” around a certain midpoint.
The reason for such movements, of course, is the Sun. Streams of charged particles from our star (solar wind) enter the Earth's magnetosphere and generate electric currents in the Earth's ionosphere. These, in turn, generate secondary magnetic fields that disturb the geomagnetic field. As a result of these disturbances, the magnetic poles are forced to take their daily walks. Their amplitude and speed naturally depend on the strength of the disturbances.
The route of such walks is close to an ellipse, with the pole in the Northern Hemisphere going around clockwise, and in the Southern Hemisphere counterclockwise. The latter, even on days of magnetic storms, moves no more than 30 km from the midpoint. The pole in the Northern Hemisphere on such days can move away from the midpoint by 60-70 km. On calm days, the sizes of daily ellipses for both poles are significantly reduced.
Magnetic pole drift in the Southern Hemisphere from 1841 to 2000
It should be noted that historically, the situation with measuring the coordinates of the magnetic pole in the Southern Hemisphere (North Magnetic Pole) has always been quite difficult. Its inaccessibility is largely to blame. If you can get from Resolute Bay to the magnetic pole in the Northern Hemisphere by a small airplane or helicopter in a few hours, then from the southern tip of New Zealand to the coast of Antarctica you need to fly more than 2000 km over the ocean. And after that it is necessary to conduct research in the difficult conditions of the ice continent. To properly appreciate the inaccessibility of the North Magnetic Pole, let’s go back to the very beginning of the 20th century.
For quite a long time after James Ross, no one dared to go deep into Victoria Land in search of the North Magnetic Pole. The first to do this were members of the expedition of the English polar explorer Ernest Henry Shackleton (1874-1922) during his voyage in 1907-1909 on the old whaling ship Nimrod.
On January 16, 1908, the ship entered the Ross Sea. Too thick pack ice off the coast of Victoria Land for a long time made it impossible to find an approach to the shore. Only on February 12 was it possible to transfer the necessary things and magnetometric equipment to the shore, after which the Nimrod headed back to New Zealand.
It took the polar explorers who remained on the shore several weeks to build more or less acceptable housing. Fifteen brave souls learned to eat, sleep, communicate, work and generally live in incredibly difficult conditions. There was a long polar winter ahead. Throughout the winter (in the Southern Hemisphere it comes at the same time as our summer), members of the expedition were engaged in scientific research: meteorology, geology, measuring atmospheric electricity, studying the sea through cracks in the ice and the ice itself. Of course, by spring the people were already quite exhausted, although the main goals of the expedition were still ahead.
On October 29, 1908, one group, led by Shackleton himself, set out on a planned expedition to the Geographic South Pole. True, the expedition was never able to reach it. On January 9, 1909, just 180 km from the South Geographic Pole, in order to save hungry and exhausted people, Shackleton decides to leave the expedition flag here and turn the group back.
The second group of polar explorers, led by the Australian geologist Edgeworth David (1858-1934), independently of Shackleton's group, set off on a journey to the magnetic pole. There were three of them: David, Mawson and Mackay. Unlike the first group, they had no experience in polar exploration. Having left on September 25, they were already behind schedule by the beginning of November and, due to overconsumption of food, were forced to go on strict rations. Antarctica taught them harsh lessons. Hungry and exhausted, they fell into almost every crevice in the ice.
On December 11, Mawson almost died. He fell into one of the countless crevasses, and only a reliable rope saved the researcher’s life. A few days later, a 300-kilogram sled fell into a crevasse, almost dragging down three people, exhausted from hunger. By December 24, the health of the polar explorers had seriously deteriorated; they suffered simultaneously from frostbite and sunburn; McKay also developed snow blindness.
But on January 15, 1909, they still achieved their goal. Mawson's compass showed a deviation of the magnetic field from the vertical of only 15'. Leaving almost all their luggage in place, they reached the magnetic pole in one throw of 40 km. The magnetic pole in the Southern Hemisphere of the Earth (North Magnetic Pole) has been conquered. After hoisting the British flag at the pole and taking photographs, the travelers shouted “Hurrah!” three times. King Edward VII and declared this land the property of the British crown.
Now they had only one thing to do - stay alive. According to the calculations of the polar explorers, in order to keep up with the departure of Nimrod on February 1, they had to travel 17 miles a day. But they were still four days late. Fortunately, Nimrod himself was delayed. So soon the three intrepid explorers were enjoying a hot dinner on board the ship.
So, David, Mawson and Mackay were the first people to set foot on the magnetic pole in the Southern Hemisphere, which on that day was located at coordinates 72°25' S. latitude, 155°16’ e. (300 km from the point measured at one time by Ross).
It is clear that there was no talk of any serious measuring work here. The vertical inclination of the field was recorded only once, and this served as a signal not for further measurements, but only for a speedy return to the shore, where the warm cabins of the Nimrod awaited the expedition. Such work to determine the coordinates of the magnetic pole cannot even be closely compared with the work of geophysicists in Arctic Canada, who spend several days conducting magnetic surveys from several points surrounding the pole.
However, the last expedition (2000 expedition) was carried out at a fairly high level. Since the North Magnetic Pole had long since left the continent and was in the ocean, this expedition was carried out on a specially equipped vessel.
Measurements showed that in December 2000, the North Magnetic Pole was opposite the coast of Terre Adelie at coordinates 64°40’ S. w. and 138°07’E. d.
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At the beginning of the year, foreign media showed extraordinary interest in the movement of the Earth’s magnetic poles and simply burst out with fantasies about “incomprehensible jumps” of the planet’s North magnetic pole. As it turned out, they were given food for thought by Canadian Geological Survey professor Larry Newitt, who, in his own words, gave an interview to a reporter who wanted to hear “how soon the pole will leave Canadian territory.” The professor's distorted story was posted on the National News Service website, which was discovered by fans of sensations.
In March, the story with the poles shook up the capital's Russian media. Domestic correspondents referred to information from Yevgeny Shalamberidze, an employee of the Central Institute of Military-Technical Information. At this institute, as many journalists reported, an “unexpected shift of the North Magnetic Pole by 200 kilometers” was allegedly recorded. This phenomenon was immediately called “polar reversal” in the popular press.
So, we have dealt with the sources that have sowed so many rumors. It remains to understand what is really happening with the magnetic poles? Is their movement consistent with generally accepted theories of polar drift? Is their polarity reversal possible in the near future and what should earthlings expect if it does happen? We addressed these questions to the deputy director of the Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere and Radio Wave Propagation (IZMIRAN), Professor Vadim Golovkov, and leading researcher at the Central Institute of Military-Technical Information (CIFTI) of the Russian Ministry of Defense Evgeniy Shalamberidze.
DRIFT ACCELERATION
V. Golovkov was not surprised by the questions asked; on the contrary, the scientist wanted to dispel the misunderstandings that had arisen. He explained that over the past 150 years, the position of the magnetic poles relative to geographic coordinates has been clearly monitored. Thus, the position of the North Magnetic Pole (NSP) in 2001 was determined by the coordinates of 81.3 degrees north latitude and 110.8 degrees west longitude (northern island part of Canada, see map).
Really, soonThe speed of movement of the NSR not constant. At the beginning of the 20th century it was equal to only a few kilometers per year, in the 70s it accelerated to 10 kilometers per year, and now it is about 40 kilometers per year. That “leap” of 200 kilometers, which the media reported with horror, the magnetic pole did not make overnight, but over the past ten years. The magnetic pole is moving almost north, and if this speed is maintained, the NSR will leave the 200-mile Canadian zone in 3 years, and reach Severnaya Zemlya in 50 years.
IS POLARITY REVERSE POSSIBLE?
We know from school that the Earth's magnetic field, to a first approximation, is a dipole, a permanent magnet. But in addition to the main dipole, the planet has so-called local magnetic anomalies, “scattered” unevenly over its surface (Canadian, Siberian, Brazilian, etc.). Each anomaly leads its own specific way of life - they move, strengthen, weaken, disintegrate.
The compass needle, which is also a magnet, is oriented relative to the total field of our planet and with one tip points to the North magnetic pole, the other to the South. Thus, the location of the first is greatly influenced by the Canadian magnetic anomaly, which currently occupies the entire territory of Canada, part of the Arctic Ocean, Alaska and the northern United States. The anomaly “pulls back” the position of the North geomagnetic pole by several degrees. Therefore, the real, total magnetic pole does not coincide with the geographical one, and the north-south orientation on the compass turns out to be not perfectly accurate, but only approximate.
The Earth's field reversal refers to the phenomenon when the magnetic poles change their sign to the opposite. The compass needle after inversion should be oriented diametrically opposite. V. Golovkov reported that based on paleomagnetic data (studies of ancient lava layers with iron-containing inclusions), it was shown that pole inversion on the Earth’s geological time scale is a fairly common phenomenon. However, the polarity reversal does not have any pronounced periodicity; it occurs every few million years, and the last time took place about 700 thousand years ago.
Modern science cannot give an exhaustive explanation of the inversion. However, it has been revealed that the strength of the Earth's dipole field changes by half with a period of about 10 thousand years. For example, at the beginning of our era its value was 1.5 times greater than now. It is also known that at times when the dipole weakens, the local fields strengthen.
Modern models of polarity reversal suggest that if the strength of the main field weakens sufficiently and reaches a value of 0.2 - 0.3 of its average value, then the magnetic poles will begin to “shake” under the influence of intensified anomalous regions, not knowing where to land. So, the north pole can “jump” to middle latitudes, to equatorial latitudes, and if it “jumps” over the equator, then an inversion will occur.
V. Golovkov believes that the accelerated movement of the North Magnetic Pole observed today is fully described by modern mathematical models. The scientist is convinced that the pole will not reach Severnaya Zemlya - the Canadian anomaly simply “will not let it in”, and it will drift in the same area, without going beyond the anomaly. Inversion, according to V. Golovkov, is indeed possible at any moment, but this “moment” will not occur sooner than in several thousand years.
GALACTIC SCALE CHANGES
Now about the information expressed by the leading researcher at the Central Institute of Military-Technical Information (CIVTI) of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation Evgeniy Shalamberidze at the round table dedicated to the problem of the increase in aviation accidents and catastrophes.
As E. Shalamberidze said in an interview with the correspondent of the Interfax TIME weekly, this organization is conducting a comprehensive analysis of the results of dozens and even hundreds of domestic and foreign studies of various profiles. They show that one of the main sources of the accelerating drift of the planet’s magnetic poles is the entry of the Solar System into a certain energy-saturated zone of our Galaxy (as NASA experts put it, the system “sank” into a hydrogen “bubble”). This area of increased concentration of atomic hydrogen began to fundamentally change the “energy order” of the development and interaction of all bodies in the Solar System.
Thus, according to official data from NASA (including those obtained using the Ulysses space probe) and the Joint Institute of Geology, Geophysics and Mineralogy of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences:
The power of electromagnetic radiation from Jupiter has increased 2 times since the beginning of the 90s, and Neptune only in the late 90s - 30 times,
The energy intensity of the basic electromagnetic framework of the Solar system, which is formed by the Sun-Jupiter link, has increased by 2 times,
On Uranus, Neptune and Earth, the ongoing processes of magnetic pole drift are increasing.
Thus, the accelerating drift of the poles on our planet is only an element of global processes occurring in the Solar and Galactic systems and having various impacts on all phases of the development of the biosphere and the life of mankind.
WHAT IS ALREADY “WRONG” ON EARTH?
Registration data from satellite systems show that since 1994, an inversion of ocean surface temperatures has occurred, and almost the entire system of global ocean currents has changed. Over the past 2 years, winter temperature records have been broken in America, Canada, and Western Europe. The water temperature at the equator rises, and this leads to intense evaporation of moisture. At the same time, the ice of the North Pole is melting. Few people know that on land in the Arctic and Antarctica, the plant world is currently undergoing rapid development. And our taiga is advancing to the north. The base of the Earth's radiation belt shifted, and the lower edge of the ionosphere dropped from an altitude of 300-310 km to 98-100 km. The number of all kinds of disasters is constantly increasing.
Total number of disasters\ With damage more than 1% of the gross\ With the number of victims\ With the number of deaths
1963-67 16 39 89
1968-72 15 54 98
1973-77 31 56 95
1978-82 55 99 138
1983-87 58 116 153
1988-92 66 139 205
As Professor A. Dmitriev from the Joint Institute of Geology, Geophysics and Mineralogy of the SB RAS testifies, the space that now surrounds the Earth is in constant magnetoelectric “flicker”, i.e. we have magnetoelectric instability. Conditions appear for sharp temperature fluctuations, the emergence of typhoons and hurricanes. The constant introduction of additional energy and matter into the state of the Earth causes complex adaptive processes for the planet itself; it is forced to constantly adapt to new conditions. And this is exactly what we are seeing at the moment.
In order for us to be able to effectively forecast the prospects for the drift of the magnetic poles and other basic geophysical forecasts on Earth, it is necessary, as CIVTI specialists emphasize, to create specialized government agencies that would begin to coordinate and integrate numerous narrow sectoral studies of various organizations, so far completely unrelated among themselves. Only on this basis will it be possible to reasonably predict what awaits us tomorrow...
WHAT THEY KNOW IN THE USA AND DON'T KNOW IN RUSSIA
At the same time, research by the Center for Intellectual and Intellectual Science of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation indicates that the US ruling circles received primary information about the growing planetary destruction by the middle of the twentieth century and began to comprehensively and covertly take them into account in their long-term geostrategy.
Even in the open version of the 1980 government report to the US President "On the State of the World by the Year 2000." (where one of the 4 volumes was entirely devoted to a detailed and multivariate forecast of the natural situation on the planet after 20 years) it was clearly stated that the aggravation of the natural situation in the region of 2000 could be caused by: “... a change in the Earth’s orbit and its rotation,” "...these changes will have consequences for our future...", "...the duration of the consequences (reaction time) can last from several days to several millennia."
In 1998, under the Congress, and since 1999 under the US government, special committees were organized to prepare the country for emergency operations in the period up to 2030. Moreover, the leading scientific and government authorities of the United States strictly block the public dissemination of any objective and systematic information about the increasing fluctuations of the earth’s poles and cataclysms of the planet.
So why does the US geostrategy take into account the latest knowledge in the sciences, but our domestic one does not? One of the important factors in the uncontrollability of the processes occurring on Earth today is humanity’s ignorance or denial of the very fact of these processes. But even when a person gets his hands on such data, it often does not find a wide audience or is distorted. Isn't it time we bravely face the truth and change the situation?
Elena NIKIFOROVA, Columnist for the weekly Interfax TIME
