Should We Fear the Upcoming Magnetic Pole Reversal?

Should We Fear the Upcoming Magnetic Pole Reversal?

Our children face a danger that may alter their lives in a very profound way. The Earth may soon transition through a magnetic pole reversal. The intensity of the Earth’s magnetic field has been falling rapidly over the past 300 years. Areas of magnetic instability, such as the South Atlantic Anomaly, are an initial phase of a major reversal. Pole reversals have been common throughout Earth’s geological history. It is not an end of the world event. Earth’s magnetic field acts as an invisible shield that protects the planet from charged particles emanating from deep space (cosmic rays) and from charged particles emitted by the sun (coronal mass ejections). The loss of a magnetic field will increase the rates of cancer deaths slightly. The loss of a magnetic field will also result in the destruction of the ozone layer. The ozone hole in the South Pole will expand as the field strength weakens. This will result in a slight up-tick in skin cancer and eye damage due to increased ultraviolet radiation. Many species of animals rely on magnetism for their internal compass. A reduction in magnetic field strength will produce migratory disorientation. Examples of this can be seen in recent whale breechings. Most animal species are adaptable and will survive although they will undergo significant stress. The Earth will also lose some of its outer atmosphere and water as charged particles jettison this material into deep space. During a pole reversal, a weak field condition will last a few hundred years; therefore the atmospheric loss will be contained and minimal. A pole reversal will also stress the infrastructure of modern society. Electronics, communications and the power grid are vulnerable to damage. Electrical power outages, communication interruptions and failed electronics will be common. One subtle effect of a pole reversal can place humanity under severe distress and it is a discussion of this effect that the rest of this paper will deal with.

We live in an interglacial, a short warm period in the middle of an Ice Age. The present Ice Age has lasted 1.8 million years. During a pole reversal, the Earth’s magnetic dipole breaks up into a series of localized mini-dipoles. These mini-dipoles tend to cancel each other out, therefore the Earth as a whole sees the magnetic field strength decline towards zero. When this happens, the magnetic shield that protects the Earth is broken. Charged particles will bombard the atmosphere. In tropical and mid-latitude environments, cosmic rays will seed cloud formation. Increased cloud cover in turn will result in a reduction of Earth’s temperature as more sunlight is reflected back into deep space. The interglacial/ice age states hang on a delicate balance that can be affected by a reduction in Earth’s temperature. So it is not difficult to understand that the Earth may soon be flung back into the depths of an Ice Age.

A return to Ice Age conditions will cause one of the greatest social upheavals ever experienced by mankind. Vast tracts of land will become uninhabitable. During the last Ice Age, most of Canada was locked under mile-thick ice sheets. Populations will need to migrate or perish. In the past, migrations forced by an environmental cataclysm were interleaved in warfare. As the ocean recedes, vast tracts of land will be uncovered. This will be new coastal land, some of the most valuable property on the Earth’s surface. Seaports will move. Cities will rise up almost overnight while other cities will be abandoned. The appearance of this land will produce a series of land disputes causing hostility between nations. Vast tracts of productive farmland will be buried or decline. This will result in starvation and famines. These environmental changes will produce a new world and a new world order.

What can we do? Can we stop a pole reversal? No and we should not even attempt this. Let nature take its course. Can we stop the transition back into the Ice Age? This will be an uphill battle, which we will most likely lose. I think we should channel our efforts into adapting to this transition. What can be done to prepare?

1. In general, using our knowledge of the last Ice Age, we know the areas that will be affected. Ice Age Map

I recommend countries threatened by this impending disaster negotiate treaties to promote the migration of its peoples. From an American perspective, there is a sonnet that is mounted on the Statue of Liberty that the world should use as a guiding light during these times. It reads

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

2. The Ice Age will threaten the world’s industrial infrastructure. Just as the Russians during World War II packed up their industrial infrastructure and moved it to the other side of its country almost overnight, the world should facilitate the transfer of this industrial infrastructure. (We do not want to create large refugee camps but rather allow the refugees to become working and contributing members of a new society.)

3. Dramatic climate change from the transition through an Ice Age will severely stress the farming industry. This will result in a major reduction in food production. This will lead to global famines. I recommend we reduce our herds of livestock and channel grains towards human consumption during this transition.

4. The ownership of new territorial lands will be a point of friction and dispute between nations. I recommend we work out agreements to govern control of these new lands. I recommend that current treaties that define international sea boundaries be used as the basis of these agreements. When separated landmasses are joined, I recommend the following rule be applied: let the ocean draw the line. As the ocean recedes revealing new landmass, let the last ribbon of ocean that separates these landmasses dictate the new boundary line between these nations.

5. Many individuals will suffer greatly during the onset of an Ice Age. Individual fortunes will be lost almost overnight. Governments should preclude privateers from reaping vast wealth from this disaster. Any new landmass should be treated as government-owned-land. This land should be leased; not sold.

6. Thermal gradients during an Ice Age will produce an up-tick in wind energy. Wind technology has evolved near-economical viability. We should promote adapting this technology to achieve our electrical power requirements.

7. It would be wise to bury infrastructure elements (underground power transmission lines, fiber optic communication lines, telephone lines) as protections against charged particles during a pole reversal. Hardening electronics against power surges is advantageous. Several elements including satellite communications, cell phones, aircraft communications, and electrical power grids will experience reliability problems.

Looking at the backside of a pole reversal raises other questions. Once the magnetic pole completely reverses, will the effect be sufficient to pull us out of the Ice Age and back into an interglacial? My guess is no. The Earth is set on a very delicate balance and an Ice Age condition is a stable state. The magnetic pole at full field strength will reduce cloud cover. The Earth’s overall temperature will heat up. The Earth will become drier; leading to drought conditions. The winds will pick up due to powerful thermal convection between the tropics and the mid-latitude environments. As major landmasses are covered over with ice, the redistribution of weight on the Earth’s crust will lead to a series of readjustments. These will produce severe earthquakes. But the most interesting question is: Can we pull ourselves out of the Ice Age at this point? In the winter, our steep driveway becomes coated with snow and ice. We have the custom of taking the ashes from our wood burning stove and coating the ice. This increases the rate the ice melts. Applying this same principal to massive glaciers can produce the same effect. During the springtime of each year, if mankind applies a thin coat of dark ash, soot, coal dust or earth on the ice flows, he will increase the Earth’s absorption of solar radiation. This might be done by airdrops similar to water drops used to put out forest fires. This will raise the temperature and promote the return of the interglacial. Should we attempt this? Absolutely.

Prologue: This paper is not intended to strike the fear of God but to raise awareness of the problems posed by an upcoming magnetic pole reversal. The transition through a pole reversal is a slow process, taking hundreds of years to complete. If the process were swift, the effects would be nil. But it is not and that is where the danger lies. Also we are not in a reversal yet. It may be several hundred or even thousand years before the reversal is in full swing. Nor is a pole reversal a certainty. Several times during the last 700,000 years, a pole reversal was poised to trigger, when it mysteriously returned to full field strength, where it remained stable for hundreds of thousands of years. If the words I have written here are accurate, the effects I have described will become self-evident. As the Earth’s overall magnetic field strength drops, the ozone hole will expand, the winters will become more intense, the world will experience greater flooding. As these events transpire, apply the Boy Scout’s Golden Rule: "Be Prepared!"

[link to personals.galaxyinternet.net]

Post Prologue: I have given the subject further thought. It takes two separate events to overlap in order to create an ice age or to propel the Earth out of an interglacial back into an ice age. The first is for the magnetic field intensity to drop to zero during a polarity transition. This has occurred several times over the last 780,000 years that defines the Brunhes Normal period. The end of the last two interglacial periods lines up with short polarity transitions. The second event is a nearby supernova event. Supernovas occur in our galaxy every few centuries. As our solar system travels around the galaxy, the proximity to nearby supernova events has a 150 million-year cycle. Our solar system is currently at the peak of that cycle. When these two events overlap, a cosmic ray storm is able to penetrate deeply into Earth’s atmosphere. The intensity of cosmic rays peak after a few weeks and taper down to zero over a period of months to years. During this short event the upper atmosphere is heated. This produces a dual stage heat transport mechanism that can pull moisture from the surface of the planet and transport it high into the upper atmosphere. The moisture will form thin microscopic hexagonal ice crystals called diamond dust. Diamond dust is highly reflective and extremely light. It can take ten years for the crystals to drift back down to Earth. During that time they will block a high percentage of sunlight from reaching the Earth’s surface. This will cause a large drop in global temperatures. The transition back into the ice age can occur very swiftly. If the tilt angle of the Earth to the supernova is large, the ice age may set deeply into a single hemisphere.

The transition into an ice age can adversely affect plant growth and food production. Massive crop failures can lead to starvation for a very large percentage of the Earth’s population.



Post Post Prologue:

Will there be any Advanced Warning prior to the next Ice Age?

YES, I believe so. The light from a supernova travels at the speed of light but the charged particles (cosmic rays) from the supernova event only travel near the speed of light. This difference in speed can provide an early warning to predict the end of the current Interglacial period. Consider that the last supernova in our galaxy was called the Kepler Star and occurred at 1604AD. The Little Ice Age produced from the cosmic rays from this event occurred in 1645AD. So in this instance, the warning period was approximately 41 years.

What Preparation can be Undertaken after a Supernova is Detect within our Galaxy?

The downturn in temperature will produce mass crop failure that will produce mass starvation. Therefore food storage both at the individual and governmental level prior to the onset of the Ice Age will be of critical importance. Governments should maintain their strategic reserves (grains, corn, beans, rice, etc.) at high levels. Livestock should be thinned and grains should be channeled into strategic reserves.