So far, the calculations of geophysicists have indicated that this phenomenon would occur in a few hundred years, but new evidence suggests that the last geomagnetic shift at the end of the last ice age lasted only 144 years, 30 times faster than previously thought.
The magnetic poles of our planet are the result of the liquid metals in the core of the earth. When these substances begin to move in different directions, they can have a big influence on the magnetic field of the planet.
The researchers point to various reasons that have led to the belief that the next shift in pole magnetism can occur quickly. The magnetic field of the earth would be about 10 percent weaker compared to records of 175 years ago, which would mean that the phenomenon would almost occur.
In addition, the magnetic poles move very fast. The North Pole is currently on the polar ice north of Canada. Every year, however, there is a change of about 50 kilometers towards Siberia.
For scientists, the main argument to justify this trend is that the reversal of the magnetic poles should have taken place much earlier. This phenomenon occurs on average every 200 thousand or 300 thousand years and the last complete inversion occurred about 780 thousand years ago.
Since then, the planet has had the so-called geomagnetic "excursions" several times, which do not lead to permanent changes in the magnetic poles, but result in temporary deviations, with the occurrence of complete but short-lived inversions.
Researcher Jürgen Matzka of the Institute of Environmental and Earth Sciences in Potsdam said that these excursions are often ten times larger than before. These events, he says, are in the first instance indistinguishable from the real changes at the poles.
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