The Earth’s Magnetic Poles May Flip: What Happens Then?

Scientists have theorized that Earth’s magnetic poles could flip after a period of decay at some point in the future, and the consequences of such an event could be catastrophic for our world and its billions of inhabitants.

The geographic north pole refers to the end of Earth’s rotation axis, which lies in the middle of the Arctic Ocean. This pole is the most commonly used, as it’s a fixed point, which marks the northern tip of the axis our planet rotates around.

This pole is fairly unstable and moves around 50 kilometers each year. During the beginning of the 20th century, it was located in Canada. By the early 2000s, it was east of Canada and eventually came to rest in Greenland.

A study published in Nature Geoscience claims that geomagnetic jerking is caused by the liquid metallic core deep beneath the earth. According to the report, the steady movement of the liquid nickel and iron ore that forms Earth’s magnetic field also produces the jerks.

The Earth’s magnetic field radiates out into space to form a protective layer around the planet known as the magnetosphere; however, these jerks can weaken the field.

From charged solar particles to cosmic rays and radiation, the magnetosphere acts as a line of defense, somewhat like a theoretical force field, ensuring that very few of these dangers reach the Earth’s surface. 

Simply put, the North Pole would become the South Pole and vice versa. This essentially means that the magnetic field lines of force would enter in the Southern Hemisphere and exit through the Northern Hemisphere as opposed to how they currently enter in the North and exit in the South.

However, at best estimations, some scientists have suggested that the poles typically reverse once every 780,000 years.

While acknowledging the possibility of a pole switch, Ross said, “Yeah. The pole is moving. It’s quite a bit faster than it was in the previous century. But it’s not out of the ordinary. So when you do get a reversal of the magnetic pole, you do get rapid motion. We’re nowhere near that degree of rapid motion yet.”

The astrophysicist went on to settle the nerves of anyone listening at home by suggesting that even if such an event had occurred, it might not have directly affected life on Earth. “And there have been hundreds of pole reversals in the past. And none have done serious damage to life,” he said. 

“But it is true that when you approach, you know, a pole reversal, the magnetic field weakens,” said Ross. “So the variation of the magnetic field. The movement of the magnetic pole. None of that is out of the ordinary. On the other hand, we can’t rule out the possibility we’re heading towards a magnetic reversal.”

He continued, “What happens is when the magnetic field begins to weaken, it transitions from being a dipole to being a multipole, where you have more than two poles. And that could last for a period of, let’s say, a century or two or thousands of years. And it flips around, and it then becomes north and south. But what is north is now south. What is south is now north.”

“Well, right now, it’s moved past the North Pole. They — the — the axis. It used to be in northern Canada. And over the past 150 years, it’s moved a little bit past the North Pole. And it could switch and go East and West instead of North and South. You know, physicists have been mapping this polar wandering of the magnetic pole for quite some time,” he said.

“The flow of the metallic fluid (mostly molten iron) in the outer core of the Earth is chaotic and turbulent. Polarity reversals occur during periods of low geomagnetic field intensity, during which the intensity of the dipolar component drastically decreases, and the structure of the field is unstable,” said Sagnotti during an interview with Space.

During a period when the poles are close to reversing, the magnetic field that protects the Earth weakens, resulting in more harmful cosmic rays and solar winds reaching the surface of our planet.

Scientists have discerned that in previous polar surveys, four, six, and even eight poles have emerged, each fighting against the next to cancel each other out. This is one reason behind the weakening of the magnetic field.

Those most affected would begin to experience bio-cell destruction, ultimately leading to increased rates of cancer, severe skin damage, and gene mutation, all of which could drastically increase mortality around the world.

Even animals such as the homing pigeon and insects like the fruit fly, which heavily depend on the Earth’s magnetic field for navigational purposes, would be affected. Some animals would be permanently displaced from their native habitats.

“There’s been over 100 reversals in the past history of the earth. And we do know that the magnetic field happens when that happens. It weakens by a factor of ten. But even a factor of ten weakening is not devastating to life,” said Ross. 

He continued, “I mean, when you get a weaker magnetic field, you get more cosmic radiation coming in. It’s like, if you live in Denver, you get exposed to more cosmic radiation. And your average lifespan gets lessened by three months.”

Global GPS systems would have to be adjusted to the new poles and according to Ross, “You do have to adjust the clocks because the earth is very slowly spinning down.

Researchers from around the world continue to do their best to understand this unusual phenomenon, and by the time it eventually occurs, we will likely be ready to face the significant event head-on.

“We are indeed seeing the sun more active than it’s been in probably something like 20 years,” said Charbonneau, alleging that a pole reversal could be on the horizon. 

An aerospace engineering professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, Delores Knipp, suggested an increase in solar storms could negatively affect Earth.  Speaking with Vox, she said intense solar storms “can actually open up Earth’s magnetic field and allow much more energy and mass to enter in through, and when that happens, then we tend to see all kinds of impacts.”