For 540 million years, the ebb and flow in the strength of Earth’s magnetic field has correlated with fluctuations in atmospheric oxygen, according to a newly released analysis by NASA scientists. The research suggests that processes deep inside the Earth might influence habitability on the planet’s surface.
Earth’s magnetic field arises from the flow of material in the planet’s molten interior, which acts like a giant electromagnet. The flow isn’t perfectly stable, and this causes the field to change over time.
Many scientists have argued that the magnetic field is crucial for protecting the atmosphere from eroded by energetic particles coming from the Sun. But, the authors of the study in Science Advances point out, the role of magnetic fields in preserving the atmosphere is an area of active research. Before addressing the complexity of the cause-and-effect relationship between magnetic fields and oxygen levels, the study authors decided to see whether Earth’s magnetic field and atmosphere have fluctuated in ways that demonstrate a link.
The history of the Earth’s magnetic fields is recorded in magnetized minerals. When hot minerals that rise with magma at gaps between spreading tectonic plates cool down, they can record the surrounding magnetic field. The minerals retain the field record as long as they are not reheated too severely. Scientists can deduce historic oxygen levels from ancient rocks and minerals because their chemical contents depend on the amount of oxygen available when they were formed. Data for both Earth’s magnetic field and oxygen extend over comparable ranges in databases that myriad geophysicists and geochemists have compiled. Until now, the authors of the new study say, no scientists had made a detailed comparison of the records.
“These two datasets are very similar,” said coauthor Weijia Kuang, a geophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “Earth is the only known planet that supports complex life. The correlations we’ve found could help us to understand how life evolves and how it’s connected to the interior processes of the planet.”
When Kuang and colleagues analyzed the two separate datasets, they found that the planetary magnetic field has followed similar rising and falling patterns as oxygen in the atmosphere for nearly a half billion years, dating back to the Cambrian explosion, when complex life on Earth emerged.
“This correlation raises the possibility that both the magnetic field strength and the atmospheric oxygen level are responding to a single underlying process, such as the movement of Earth’s continents,” said study coauthor Benjamin Mills, a biogeochemist at the University of Leeds.
The researchers hope to examine longer datasets to see if the correlation extends farther back in time. They also plan to investigate the historic abundance of other chemicals essential for life as we know it, such as nitrogen, to determine whether they also support these patterns. As for the specific causes linking the Earth’s deep interior to life on the surface, Kopparapu said: “There’s more work to be done to figure that out.”
Journal:
Science Advances – Link: 10.1126/sciadv.adu8826
…
Seems I don’t have the ability to post an image as others do.
You aren’t the only one.
Me neither. There used to be a button to add an image, but it’s gone. I believe this is a quick of WordPress
I usually paste the url…
Thanks, Strat. I know I can paste a URL, but what about my own wonderful artwork? Do you have any ideas?
Unless you post it online somewhere first, not really, no.
Can Charles facilitate uploaded images? Would he even consider it?
I think it was a change in WordPress. I seem to remember Anthony discussing it when WordPress was updated several years ago.
I would imagine storage space is at a premium. There was an abortive attempt to migrate not too long ago and the comments were a major stumbling block.
Makes sense
I did paste a url, but it still didn’t work.
The button still there. But I think it has an upper limit for the size of the image and only certain file types will work- so I always use jpg. The button is a little square with a mountain and the sun.
No button showing for me.
I just clicked on “reply” for your comment and now I see the little “button” in the lower right corner as I described in my previous comment. Maybe there is a bug in the system so that it doesn’t always come up, I dunno.
nor me
There’s an image of a mountain in the text entry box that appears for me when commenting. Click that and I can upload images.
Max upload file is 3MB.
The “image” icon has moved to the far right corner of the toolbar.
Is that the one you are missing?
Yes, there is no image icon in the right corner, nothing but a gray stripe.
Exactly.
Test (I clicked on the little icon symbol in the lower right of the text box)
Result
I don’t have any icons on the lower right of the toolbar or textbox. The last icon on the right is about in the middle and it looks like [+]
I wonder – is it browser dependent?
I’m using a Firefox derivative browser (Mypal68 its called; runs under Xp.)
The disappearing image icon in the lower right toolbar for posting images is an ongoing problem within wordpress. Mine has appeared and disappeared a number of times. I tried hunting down the reason for this and was never successful in determining why it happens. Right now, it’s all working good, but I expect it to disappear again at some point. Maddening when it happens.
Last time I tried it worked.
A test.
It worked.
That was a .bmp from my desktop PC using the image icon at the far right of the format bar that showed up after I hit “reply”.
MS Xp Desktop (for the win!)
Yes, still using Xp here …
Actually, I have Windows 10 Pro on my PC.
open an account on imgur, then upload and link.
Shouldn’t be necessary. It’s available for some but not for others. I have my own sites, so I can host images there, but why?
It’s available for some but not for others.
With the “new” subscription model, might it be related to your subscription level? Moderator would have to answer that.
There a lot of different systems/phones out there.
Microsoft/Apple. Browsers, take your pick.
The Mods might not know.
But I’m sure they’re checking it out if they’ve been made aware of the problem.
Back in the early ’80’s I did small appliance repair. The hardest problems to diagnose and fix were those that were intermittent or where the customer didn’t tell us what we needed to know.
Wow.
It is wondrously amazing how little we know about spaceship Earth.
Except for the settled science, of course.
Boiling oceans are making penguins jump out. Video proof.
LOL.
It proves penguins are smarter than frogs! Settled science!
Now can I get NSF grant?
Alarmists and absolutists would gain credibility with the world if they would simply admit the obvious….that they don’t know as much as they think they know.The current establishment will be the laughing stock of the scientific world in 100 years.
A correlation? Does any pattern emerge with any other atmospheric gas?
“Scientists can deduce historic oxygen levels from ancient rocks” Indeed they can, but that’s no smoking gun. Maybe it’s because they have become used to deducing things we can never really know with any degree of certainty; like how dinosaurs really looked, let alone lived. And then making TV programmes about them as factual… (h/t D. Attenborough)
“Walking With Dinosaurs
The groundbreaking series returns. Stunning visual effects bring dramatic dinosaur stories to life, based on clues from extraordinary dig sites around the world.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m0024qbn/walking-with-dinosaurs
“As for the specific causes linking the Earth’s deep interior to life on the surface, Kopparapu said: “There’s more work to be done to figure that out.””
In other words, they have no idea.
They have an idea. A conjecture is an idea. What they lack is substantive data or analysis that transforms the conjecture into a hypothesis.
What you are reading is a skeptic acknowledging the science is not settled, that the conjecture may prove wrong, but that does not me “they have no idea.”
Nice rant. They still do not know.
They know more all the time. Not a lot of money goes into paleontology.
Rant? Ok. You belief what you will.
“how dinosaurs really looked, let alone lived”
They’re getting better all the time- like, they now know many had feathers. Who’d thunk? Oh, also, from chemical analysis of the fossils, they can now tell the skin color for some. And color of feathers.
If only they could prove they were all green.
Then who could complain about fossil fuels! 😎
The study hypothesizes that the geo-historic quantity (partial pressure) of O2 may have been influenced by the VGADM (virtual geomagnetic axial dipole moment). Both of these factors are “measured” by proxies, or proxies of proxies (faint shadows).
Well okay. That’s how science is done these days: WAGging speculation in academic cubicles at huge expense to unwilling taxpayers. At least, in this case, the Conclusion does not demand the extirpation of all humans, so we can breathe a sigh of partial relief.
All atmospheric “free” O2 is the result of photosynthesis. Life did it. The miraculous conversion of an elemental gas (CO2) into creeping crawling seeing smelling laughing crying thinking wondering creatures, expelling a byproduct (O2), also necessary for Life, is the motivator, the driver, the engine of all we do, including science. There’s more, much more, than dipoles that influence Life. Or that created it in the first place.
Correlation implies a link, it doesn’t demonstrate one.
Correlation implies potential funding.
While that is all too true in way too many cases, it is not necessarily the case here.
Correlation does not demonstrate a causal link. It could be spurious.
Correlation invites scrutiny, analysis, measurements, testing, data, additional observations, etc. to try to decode why the correlation exists or if the correlation is valid.
Correlation in science is akin to tipping the first domino in a domino rally.
re: “But, the authors of the study in Science Advances point out, the role of magnetic fields in preserving the atmosphere is an area of active research.”
Have these scientists seen the aurora borealis? Do they have any idea what is producing that visual effect? Just curious if THEY are aware …
Just yesterday I was using AI Gemini to explore & define plausible fatal flaws in climate science. Among others, one of the topics was the assertion of declining oxygen levels and causes. AI defined various plausible fatal flaws in both the measurements and defined cause. I went back an added this new study for review and this is what it provided”
New Magnetic Field-Oxygen Study: A Lesson in Climate Science Unknowns
This new study, revealing a half-billion-year correlation between Earth’s magnetic field strength and atmospheric oxygen levels, serves as a stark lesson in the vast unknowns still present within climate science, further supporting the notion of insufficient knowledge for definitive AGW conclusions.
The most germane lessons it highlights are:
In essence, this study exemplifies that our understanding of Earth’s complex, integrated systems is still in its nascent stages, with major, long-term natural drivers of atmospheric composition only now being uncovered. This directly reinforces the argument that current climate science operates with a significant lack of complete knowledge, especially concerning the full spectrum of natural influences on atmospheric gases.
Worded tersely, the science definitely is not settled.
I asked Gemini to write a short summary of the totality of the fatal flaws we explored.
The basis for conclusions in Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) theories, particularly those advocating significant action, is plausibly insufficient due to critical shortcomings in scientific understanding and methodology.
A key concern is the fallacy of assuming human causation simply because natural explanations are not fully known or quantified. This “argument from ignorance” inflates confidence by dismissing potential undiscovered natural drivers.
Plausible fatal flaws in core atmospheric measurements (CO2 increase, O2 decrease, isotopic shifts) include:
Furthermore, the attribution to human activity is undermined by significant unknowns:
Collectively, these plausible flaws and profound unknowns create an overwhelming weight of uncertainty. This pervasive uncertainty means the scientific framework is plausibly insufficient to definitively conclude that observed global changes are primarily anthropogenic, thereby lacking the necessary confidence to justify costly, alarm-driven actions.
Story tip. A lovely day calamity
The Met Office has blamed man-made climate change for the heatwave.
Amy Doherty, a climate scientist at the forecaster, said it was “virtually certain” that the searing temperatures were caused by global warming.
However, she made the claim while admitting “we’ve not conducted formal climate attribution studies into June 2025’s two heatwaves”.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/01/nhs-warning-britain-hottest-day-2025/
Step forward Friederike Otto…
It’s clear, human CO2 leads hot North African Air directly to Britain.
😆
Earlier I read somewhere that O2 is paramagnetic, whatever that means.
At least O2 is attracted by a magnetic field under certain conditions.
I learned something looking that up.
Thanks.
It is true that O2 is paramagnetic. But that fact doesn’t establish a mechanism for the correlation.
True.
As an aside, it makes me curious if the paramagnetic characteristic has an interaction with electro magnetic fields. I doubt it is as significant as the dipole moment of H2O and its energetic interactions with EM fields.
“Scientists can deduce historic oxygen levels from ancient rocks and minerals because their chemical contents depend on the amount of oxygen available when they were formed.”
I’m no geologist- but I suspect this is only true of some rock types.
Yes, the claim is rather broad brush. Apparently, oxides have become more abundant than before the Great Oxygenation Event, and some new minerals, which contain oxygen, have formed as well since the GOE.
suspect the answer is sex
plants can expose delicate gametes more effectively with better protection from radiation
they reproduce more efficiently and raise the oxygen level
Freud smiled.
O2 is paramagnetic.
But that means that the O2 magnetic response is weak compared to the ferromagnetic response of magnetite that is used to determine the remnant magnetism in rocks. They haven’t proposed a mechanism that would account for the correlation. At best, they have claimed a correlation that could be spurious.
STORY TIP
https://www.science.org/content/article/methane-tracker-lost-space
Despite calling a correlation coefficient of 0.72, “strong,” it should be pointed out that it only accounts for about 52% of the variance in the dependent variable, with no formal uncertainty estimated for the nominal value of the r-value. That isn’t much better than a coin toss.
The VGADM correlation shown in Figure 4 looks very much like a sync-function and may be an artifact of the box filter used.
The Discussion section of their paper suggests, “First, the observed correlation could be interpreted to support the conjecture that the strong geomagnetic field is essential in protecting Earth’s atmosphere by reducing oxygen escape because stronger VGADM corresponds to higher O2 content in the atmosphere over geological timescales.” If that were the case, then I would expect that during geomagnetic polarity reversals, when the field strength drops to zero, which have happened many times, there would be a decline in O2. I don’t see any evidence for that, nor do I see any discussion of it.
What I get out of their article is that the correlation is best over long time periods, which suggests to me that we are looking at a spurious correlation.
While I could plausibly claim that Spell Check was responsible for misspelling ‘sinc,’ I’ll own up to personally being responsible. I’m surprised that no one called me on it.
From the link –
Oh goody! More speculation with no experimental foundation. Haven’t any of these people (or the fools that fund them) heard of the scientific method?
If any researchers feel like taking offense, bad luck. Science is science – speculation, with no disprovable hypothesis at the end, is just pointlessly wasting someone else’s time and money.
Good work if you can get it, of course.
The science is settled. But the climate clowns don’t even know why the atmospheric composition is what it is. That’s what real scientists try to figure out.