I know. This sounds like a plot of a 1950’s scifi movie. But it is real. From my view, our localized corner of the solar system is now different than it used to be and changes in the magnetic interactions are evident everywhere. First we have the interplanetary magnetic field that took an abrupt dive in October 2005 and has not recovered since and remains at very low level:
click for a larger image
Then we have the recent discovery that the ionosphere has dropped in altitude to unexpected and unexplained low levels.
We have a solar cycle 24 (driven by the solar magnetic dynamo) which can’t seem to get out of the starting gate, being a year late with forecasts for activity from it being revised again and again.
And finally we have this, this discovery that Earth’s magnetic field can be ripped open and our atmosphere laid bare to the solar wind, much like Mars.
Magnetism is underrated in the grand scheme of things, in my opinion. We’d do well to pay more attention to magnetic trends in our corner of the universe and what effects it has on Earthly climate. – Anthony
From NASA News (h/t to Geoff Sharp)
Dec. 16, 2008: NASA’s five THEMIS spacecraft have discovered a breach in Earth’s magnetic field ten times larger than anything previously thought to exist. Solar wind can flow in through the opening to “load up” the magnetosphere for powerful geomagnetic storms. But the breach itself is not the biggest surprise. Researchers are even more amazed at the strange and unexpected way it forms, overturning long-held ideas of space physics.
“At first I didn’t believe it,” says THEMIS project scientist David Sibeck of the Goddard Space Flight Center. “This finding fundamentally alters our understanding of the solar wind-magnetosphere interaction.”
The magnetosphere is a bubble of magnetism that surrounds Earth and protects us from solar wind. Exploring the bubble is a key goal of the THEMIS mission, launched in February 2007. The big discovery came on June 3, 2007, when the five probes serendipitously flew through the breach just as it was opening. Onboard sensors recorded a torrent of solar wind particles streaming into the magnetosphere, signaling an event of unexpected size and importance.
Right: One of the THEMIS probes exploring the space around Earth, an artist’s concept. [more]
“The opening was huge—four times wider than Earth itself,” says Wenhui Li, a space physicist at the University of New Hampshire who has been analyzing the data. Li’s colleague Jimmy Raeder, also of New Hampshire, says “1027 particles per second were flowing into the magnetosphere—that’s a 1 followed by 27 zeros. This kind of influx is an order of magnitude greater than what we thought was possible.”
The event began with little warning when a gentle gust of solar wind delivered a bundle of magnetic fields from the Sun to Earth. Like an octopus wrapping its tentacles around a big clam, solar magnetic fields draped themselves around the magnetosphere and cracked it open. The cracking was accomplished by means of a process called “magnetic reconnection.” High above Earth’s poles, solar and terrestrial magnetic fields linked up (reconnected) to form conduits for solar wind. Conduits over the Arctic and Antarctic quickly expanded; within minutes they overlapped over Earth’s equator to create the biggest magnetic breach ever recorded by Earth-orbiting spacecraft.
Above: A computer model of solar wind flowing around Earth’s magnetic field on June 3, 2007. Background colors represent solar wind density; red is high density, blue is low. Solid black lines trace the outer boundaries of Earth’s magnetic field. Note the layer of relatively dense material beneath the tips of the white arrows; that is solar wind entering Earth’s magnetic field through the breach. Credit: Jimmy Raeder/UNH. [larger image]
The size of the breach took researchers by surprise. “We’ve seen things like this before,” says Raeder, “but never on such a large scale. The entire day-side of the magnetosphere was open to the solar wind.”
The circumstances were even more surprising. Space physicists have long believed that holes in Earth’s magnetosphere open only in response to solar magnetic fields that point south. The great breach of June 2007, however, opened in response to a solar magnetic field that pointed north.
“To the lay person, this may sound like a quibble, but to a space physicist, it is almost seismic,” says Sibeck. “When I tell my colleagues, most react with skepticism, as if I’m trying to convince them that the sun rises in the west.”
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Here is why they can’t believe their ears: The solar wind presses against Earth’s magnetosphere almost directly above the equator where our planet’s magnetic field points north. Suppose a bundle of solar magnetism comes along, and it points north, too. The two fields should reinforce one another, strengthening Earth’s magnetic defenses and slamming the door shut on the solar wind. In the language of space physics, a north-pointing solar magnetic field is called a “northern IMF” and it is synonymous with shields up!
“So, you can imagine our surprise when a northern IMF came along and shields went down instead,” says Sibeck. “This completely overturns our understanding of things.”
Northern IMF events don’t actually trigger geomagnetic storms, notes Raeder, but they do set the stage for storms by loading the magnetosphere with plasma. A loaded magnetosphere is primed for auroras, power outages, and other disturbances that can result when, say, a CME (coronal mass ejection) hits.
The years ahead could be especially lively. Raeder explains: “We’re entering Solar Cycle 24. For reasons not fully understood, CMEs in even-numbered solar cycles (like 24) tend to hit Earth with a leading edge that is magnetized north. Such a CME should open a breach and load the magnetosphere with plasma just before the storm gets underway. It’s the perfect sequence for a really big event.”
Sibeck agrees. “This could result in stronger geomagnetic storms than we have seen in many years.”
For more information about the THEMIS mission, visit http://nasa.gov/themis
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Dear Crosspatch… You wrote: ” I think it was also intentionally a little ominous in tone in order to justify follow-on funding.”
It’s not an unusual practice from NASA. I remember the commotion they caused with the Antarctic Martian meteorite where supposedly carried bacteria from Mars. Everything was a scheme for obtaining funds for the following Mars space program.
On the other hand, although NASA considers the massive breach in the Earth’s magnetic field has not effect on life and climate on our planet, we must to assess any changes we could see on those systems, from now on. So far we know that the solar irradiance is palliated by the Earth’s magnetic field; if a breach is wider and deeper than any other we have observed before, it is plausible, and obvious, that more incident radiation on Earth’s surface will cause variations on biosystems and climate.
Re: Graeme Rodaughan ‘s post about an IPER I found it very amusing and then I realised that it is all too feasible……
I am afraid that AGW has gone beyond parody. It is impossible to parody something that parodies itself with every announcement!
As they say in the GB tabloid press… “You couldn’t make it up”
What does that solar wind feel like? Sounds warm.
I just went outside, and all I felt was the danged Arctic wind! In Southern CA, no less. 10 inches of snow this week, the most I have seen in this location. Maybe that breach and a little solar wind leaking thru will melt this nasty, cold, white stuff. Soon, I hope.
“We know the magnetic (‘Hale’) cycle of the sun of about 22yrs shows up in world and many regional temperatures and river flood data and that the moon interrupts the rush of charged particles coming from the sun – the solar wind – and also affects the weather” he said.
“The beats between the solar magnetic cycle and the cycle of eclipses – or more precisely the Retreat of the lunar nodes – and then doubled because of North-South polar effects give the observed saw tooth envelope” he said.
For solar cycle frequency Z (=approx 1/11.05 per yr); and Retreat of the lunar nodes R (=1/18.61 per yr) we have beats, including the doubling effect as
B = 2 (R – Z/2) = 2R – Z
which gives a period 1/B of about 59 (+/-1) years depending on the precise value of Z
“There are also other natural changes and cycles going on but this result means the world will continue its current general cooling to around 2030 and it’s nothing to do with CO2” said Piers to the dinner guests in what must be one of the shortest scientific papers* in one of the most salubrious locations around.
*The paper will also be published in a scientific journal.
from http://co2sceptics.com/news.php?id=2248
After or before earthquakes “ligths” are seen in the sky. I saw two of these after the August 15 2007 7,9 Richter earthquake in Pisco, Peru; though I was in Lima, some 200 km. north. These “lights” were seen as flashes of light in the sky. Though these are by some attributed to electricity generated by the friction of tectonic plates these could be originated by other phenomena.
lgl (09:05:09) :
Not so fast now. Earth’s rotation is changing all the time, last flip coincidentally happened in 2004. The cause must be something big, why not magnetism. Now the rotation is decreasing, before 2004 (and most of the time since 1970) it was increasing.
Damn. In all the discussion of solar orbit / spin coupling it never occurred to me to think about the same spin coupling effect on the planet itself… though the water ought to accelerate with everything else in free fall… but maybe there is some deep tidal effect that could slosh the water. Any change in the tide charts with the rotation rate (not really a flip…) change?
Looks like an interesting line of speculation that could lead to some interesting grant money ;-}
“Magnetism is underrated in the grand scheme of things”.
Hear, hear!
One caveat to Louis H.’s note re: disappearance/diminishment of a magnetic field implying same of its originating electric current. A magnetic field in motion induces an electric current (provided charged matter).
Moreover, a magnetic field in the presence of a changing gravitational field will likewise produce an electric current.
Electric charge, magnetic field, angular momentum are among the very few properties of a body of matter remaining following gravitational collapse.
Thanks Jim,
“Another challenging puzzle is the observable 6-year lag between the detrended run of dT and -LOD”, and Rate of change of declination leads all of it. Makes it hard to believe the cause is atmospheric circulation.
Jupiter and Saturn and a few others line up in the same quadrant every 60 years, (1941 and 2000 for instance) just to have mentioned it 🙂
Gosh this sounds bad, its not like anything the scientists thought could happen!
But how long have they had the satellites and equipment to measure breaches in the earth’s magnetic field?
Could it have been happening regularly but we just didn’t know?
The Themis satellites apparently arrived at the breach serenipitiously and sailed through – wait for the conspiracy theories about how their on board instruments caused the breach It was our fault after all!
anna v (06:04:12) :
Carsten Arnholm, Norway (01:17:46) :
You sure it is not sunset? Or is it the long sunset of the north?
It is from Feb. 1, 2005 (afternoon, precise time uncertain) towards the south-east, well before sunset. The sun is obviously low at 60N at that time of year.
My point is that such red skies are well known in the winter, they are not that unusual, although you hear it claimed from time to time (there was once an article in Sky & Telescope claiming that a volcanic eruption in Indonesia was the origin of the red backdrop of Munch’s painting for example).
Leif, the time lag between said discovery and overnight change in thinking is increased by the institutions themselves. This is not good. It is my opinion and my opinion alone that forward progress is hampered by the infrastructure of our universities. Any undergrad who has questioned his professors’ teachings knows this. Questioning is not welcome. Have you never been frustrated by a professor who wouldn’t even look at your ideas? Forgive me if I gave you the impression that I do not know how these institutions work. This is my opinion, you are also entitled to your own. :^) I might like to add that I have learned a great deal from you, sir, and I thank you.
fascinating stuff. there was a fairly popular book back in the 70’s that tells all about the supposed polar shifts throughout the earth’s history. i wish i could remember the title and author of the book. if i missed it somewhere in here sorry. at any rate, supposedly with each occurance there has been mass destruction with just a handful folks left to re-build etc.
Pamela Gray (06:35:33) :
Death from cold is incidental to the deaths caused by global warming. (:-)
Lest we forget:
“In the history of global warming scare stories, the 2003 European heat wave was a landmark event—it was the first time that a rash of human deaths were specifically linked to global warming. Many of you probably recall that a widespread exceptionally hot and dry spell hit Western Europe in August, 2003. Depending on how you count the bodies, up to 35,000 people suffered premature death during this heat wave with the lions-share occurring in France, which happened to be heat wave ground zero. Subsequent research demonstrated that this kind of extreme heat event must surely have been caused by increased greenhouse gas levels (Schår et al., 2004), despite the fact that, when examined from a global perspective, this heat wave was very Euro-centric (Chase et al., 2006), and the last time we checked a map, western Europe doesn’t cover much of the globe (which of course is the reason for centuries of European colonialism).”
Carbon monoxide blamed in deaths of 3
“Three young women were found dead Tuesday in a car parked near Squaw Valley USA ski resort, and law enforcement officials suspect that they were victims of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning. The engine of their older, American-made sedan was still running when a resort security guard came upon the scene about 1:05 p.m., Placer County Sheriff’s Lt. Allan Carter said during a telephone interview. “We surmise that the engine was running all night,” Carter said. “It appears that they were sleeping.” The car was entirely covered by a foot of new-fallen snow, Carter said. Investigators have found no evidence of alcohol or other drug use, and there are no indications of foul play.”
The populace suffers from scientific ignorance, economic ignorance and political ignorance. Where does that leave us? Right where we are.
Jessie (09:13:20) :
You have it backwards – scientists revel in phenomena they can’t explain. Their greatest reward comes from understanding and explaining it.
In climatology and solar physics pretty much everything that we see has happened before – its just that we didn’t have the tools to see it before. Not much to worry about until astronomers say a comet will hit us next month, and then there’s nothing you can do, so no need to worry.
Don’t worry about not seeing raw science on TV. Given what they do with well done science, it’s stunning what they can do with something they don’t understand.
Well one of the calculations we had to make when I was in school was to calculate the change in LOD if the entire Royal Navy lined up around the equator and set off to the east at flank speed. The required data was of course given.
So maybe that is the fisheries link; depending on what direction the fish schools swim.
P.S to Could breach in the Earth’s magnetic field signal a new Maunder minimum?
for possible Dalton minimum 2030-40 see
http://www.vukcevic.co.uk/extrapolation.gif
http://www.vukcevic.co.uk/AmEn.gif
I thought the science was settled? No?
Crosspatch @ur momisugly 9:17
Excellent points. Particularly your last paragraph. I am sorry to admit I missed the subtlety of witch you refer. 😉
“it should be possible for the whole system to “flip” and the polar regions suddenly find themselves at the equator, and then it stabilizes again.
I wonder if anything like that has ever happened in the past.”
No, it hasn’t.
You’ve got an angular momentum issue in the first place of simply massive proportions. Second, the Earth already bulges around the equator. Third, the Earth isn’t a top spinning on a table with an external gravitational field, the Earth is in free fall around the Sun — if you did that experiment in orbit it would just spin about whatever axis you started the rotation around (modulo precession due to the orbit of the vehicle/station you were in).
Dammit Scotty! I need those shields up NOW!!
Cap’n, I’m giving it all I’ve got. The magnetic field lines are going screwy on me, and it may take me a minute to get it fixed…
Scotty, we don’t have a minute, I need those shields NOW!!!!
We have a lot to learn. As much as we love to pat ourselves on the back, this is more evidence that our species is still in its infancy. To say we have absolutely no effect on climate at a global scale is absurd. There is no ONE explanation fits all in this scenario.
What I am gathering is that our impact on warming seems to be far less than predicted? And you expect your average person to be 10 steps ahead of the masses? when this evolutionary awakening, like all science thrives on trial and error. If it isn’t our warming it will be our toxic irresponsibility, our inability to piece the big picture together that does us in. We can’t leave our own smoke stacks and nervous systems out of the equation… we need to take a closer look at what is really going on here.
Our ignorance exceeds our understanding… that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The more we learn, the more we realize how little we really know and how mysterious our little rabbit hole in the universe is.. that will never change. Science will never know it all.
“The data posted here could indicate the beginnings of a new Ice Age. Or not.”
I’ve heard of qualifying your statements but this is silly.
The twin lights shining trhough my bedroom window could be a UFO. Or not.
*dancing and singing on the edge of destruction*
Pre-industrial CO2 levels were about the same as today. How and why we are told otherwise?
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/6855
It’s snowing in Malibu! And winter has yet to begin!
Video feed
In regards to the possibility of the axis of rotation of the Earth moving in relation to its plane of orbit, or precession (Axis flip, in some popular talk):
http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/time/precession.html
It is believed to be well understood and predictable, in a cycle of about 26000 years.
It will change the climate as it precesses.
It would take Earth’s being struck by a planetoid sized object to dramatically change the axis of rotation. It is believed by many that a prior collision created the moon. The energy released by the collision would have melted the crust. The moon acts to stabilize the axis of rotation today. It is very unlikely that whatever is happening to the magnetosphere will have any impact on the axis of rotation of Earth. But we are living in interesting times for sure.