As if global warming, er, cooling … “climate change” isn’t a big enough reason to PANIC!!!, now we have the magnetic poles flipping:
Forget about global warming—man-made or natural—what drives planetary weather patterns is the climate and what drives the climate is the sun’s magnetosphere and its electromagnetic interaction with a planet’s own magnetic field.
When the field shifts, when it fluctuates, when it goes into flux and begins to become unstable anything can happen. And what normally happens is that all hell breaks loose.
Evidently Earth’s magnetic poles switch periodically, with the north pole becoming the south, and vice versa. By “periodically,” scientists mean that
[o]n average, such reversals take place every 500,000 years, but there is no discernible pattern. Flips have happened as close together as 50,000 years, though the last one was 780,000 years ago.
In other words, we’re overdue. And according to the article, if recent storms are any indication, we could be in the midst of such a flip. Plus, there’s this:
The Earth’s northern magnetic pole was moving towards Russia at a rate of about five miles annually. That progression to the East had been happening for decades.
Suddenly, in the past decade the rate sped up. Now the magnetic pole is shifting East at a rate of 40 miles annually, an increase of 800 percent. And it continues to accelerate.
As Brendan would say, PANIC!!!
Oh, and for all of you closely monitoring the Chandler wobble (you know who you are), grab your ankles:
According to some geologists and scientists, we have left the last interglacial period behind us. Those periods are lengths of time—about 11,500 years—between major Ice Ages.
One of the most stunning signs of the approaching Ice Age is what’s happened to the world’s precessional wobble.
The Earth’s wobble has stopped.
As explained in the geology and space science website earthchangesmedia.com, “The Chandler wobble was first discovered back in 1891 by Seth Carlo Chandler an American astronomer.
The effect causes the Earth’s poles to move in an irregular circle of 3 to 15 meters in diameter in an oscillation. The Earth’s Wobble has a 7-year cycle which produces two extremes, a small spiraling wobble circle and a large spiraling wobble circle, about 3.5 years apart.
I’m not sure what to make of any of this, but I’ll tell you three things: First, Al Gore will tell you it’s all your fault and you better buy more carbon offsets. Second, I seriously doubt any fancy AGW models out there account for this kind of magnetic shift thingy. And third, there isn’t a goddamn thing anyone can do about it except for Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck (or if they’re not available, Aaron Eckhart and Hilary Swank).
According to some geologists and scientists, we have left the last interglacial period behind us.
If this is true, and AGW due to carbon-based emissions is also true, then doesn’t that state the case for increasing our use of fossil fuels for the purposes of energy and transportation?
Hmm, I hadn’t thought of it that way. Good thing we have plenty of apolitical scientists receiving grants with no strings attached that can help sort all this out 😉
Assuming our scientists are apolitical and not influenced by grant money (and agendas of the sources providing the grant money), you still have the fundamental issue of scientists largely operating in the realm of academia, which — last time I checked — is more or less evenly divided between aging hippies, communists, socialists, New Deal liberals, New Left liberals, and New Democrats (with some minor overlap among the categories, of course). Clearly there is little echo-chamber effect in the Ivory Tower….
I was about to berate Brendan for not giving me a hat tip for alerting him to this story then I realized he wasn’t the one who posted it. Thanks alot Joe Mama, one less chance to berate Brendan :-/
AML, I think the bigger issue than the “Ivory Tower being full of aging leftist hippies” as you put it is simply that those that would explode preconceptions are often ignored and then ridiculed until they die and someone else discovers that they might actually have been right. In any industry, science included, most people stick with the preconceptions, few people think outside of the box and are willing to explode the conventional wisdom.
If the polls flip all bets are off, ice ages or global warming included.
That said, global warming is sort of erroneous, in name. To my understanding the issue is that man is making the weather more extreme in both directions. Or, we’ve broken the thermostat, and the earth is trying to regain equilibrium.
Brendan – does your blog have any prize for the most (quantity) most (as in over-the-top) mis-understood mis-used metaphors and phrases in one comment ?
If I does, I nominate dcl #5 !
Going for the low-hanging fruit, the “polls flip” regularly, most recently (for the US) back in November …
I also think that many of the commnters ehre are regulars when it comes to thinking outside the box … and some of us are *also* capable of thinking not just withint he box, yet also within sight of the box … and then there’s Sandy who probably cannot remeber the last time he even saw the box …
Personally, I am usually satisfied pointing out the logical inconsistencies in the “conventional wisdom” – although I started to realise, when NewsWeak stopped being a quality publication, that “Conventional Wisdom” is a term like “Moral Majority” – where *neither* term is accurate … I leave the “exploding” to those ‘presidential’ advisors like Bill Ayers …
Hmmmm … does anyone know which part of the brain has to be severely damaged for someone to be able to actually believe Almost-President Gore as a Scientist ?
Hahaha, you referenced The Core. Awesome. Worst science movie EVAR!!! 🙂
Al, if you think that’s bad I should hunt up the video interview I did several years ago where the subject used so much MBA speak that it was, quite literally, impossible to be sure what he was actually saying, but it was fairly clear none of it was particularly relevant to the subject at hand (back then I mean, not now. I’m not sure the interview was actually relevant to anything at all.)
Ah yes, global warming, that vast left wing conspiracy. Why just last week I saw Greenpeace up at some glaciers with hair dryers melting the ice so the glaciers would look like they shrunk. All part of their diabolical plan you know.
Just read that link to the review of The Core. That was a real movie? Unreal.
Why just last week I saw Greenpeace up at some glaciers with hair dryers melting the ice so the glaciers would look like they shrunk. All part of their diabolical plan you know.
They’re a little late…….
Researchers have discovered that contrary to popular belief half of the ice flows in the Karakoram range of the mountains are actually growing rather than shrinking.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/8284223/Himalayan-glaciers-not-melting-because-of-climate-change-report-finds.html
gahrie – who are you going to believe ? Our davidkian-in-residence ? Our Almost-President ? Or the eyes of folk in Karakoram who probably didn’t even go to an Ivy League School ?
I consider this a threat on par with the tree octopus.
Oh, and I am deeply offended that AML #3 did not include my subgroup, “shiftless neoliberal sybarites”. I would make a complaint to the ACLU, but I lack the initiative and would prefer to quench my angst with a glass of amarone. Nevertheless, I lift my chin at you in a supercilious manner, AML.
I consider this a threat on par with the tree octopus.
Hmmm..That is kind of funny, because I actually believe in this one. There is physical evidence in the geographic record that the magnetic poles have shifted in the past, and we have observed them move in historic times.
Unfortunately, there is not a damned thing we can do about it. I hope for all of our sakes that the magnetic field that protects us from the sun reforms quickly.
I would be interested however in a correlation study comparing sunspot cycles and magnetic pole shifts.
gahrie – while there seems to be reason to believe that the Poles have shifted/reversed several times, I cannot find anything giving any idea of how long the process takes …
At 40 mpa (miles per annum), that would take about 300 years for the two ends to “reverse” … and, given the ‘every half million years’ in some estimates, taking 300 years to do the actual reversing probably would not be noticed while it was happening absent some way to track the magnetic poles …
Since we have not found evidence of die-offs every half million years, I wonder just how much of a problem this can be (except for species used to relying upon it for navigational cues) …
Casey, I’m not sure how “neoliberal sybarites” is different from “New Democrats”. Perhaps in other countries’ ideological traditions, where what is called neoliberalism is more akin to what we in America might call classical liberalism, the distinction might make sense. In any case, I regret the offence.
Alasdair, I would not study with too much effort the shifting of the Poles. They are as liable as any other ethnic group (sans African-Americans, who cling to their errant voting patterns with a consistency admired by all Democratic politicians) to change their minds and vote with fecklessness.
Is “fecklessness” the new Secret Service ID for Veep Biden, perchance ?
Remain calm. All is well.
http://bit.ly/hkXSTf
ok, so lets say for the sake of argument that trooperbari’s article is correct and that even if the poles flip, our weather won’t be significantly impacted.
What will be? Obviously compasses would get screwed up, but I am not sure how much we rely on those in 2011. Boy Scouts trying to get their Orienteering merit badge will have a tough time of it, but they’ll just need to chomp on a Pemmican bar and buck up. All in all, it seems rather nice of mother nature to wait until the availability of widespread GPS before pulling this stunt.
Any other side effects of nutty magnetic polls? Will it screw with electronics if it happens too quickly? Our nervous systems? Will it mess with smaller magnets? Will my kids finger-painting masterpieces fall off my fridge?
Matthew – if the Magnetic Poles flip in a matter of minutes or seconds, I suspect that there could be a problem … if it takes centuries, then most people will not notice (except when working on Merit Badges) – although, as I recall, there are supposed to be some species which rely upon the planetary magnetic field for orientation … Wiki calls it Magnetoception …
Oh – and Rep Kucinich will become even *more* confused …
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