The moment when the Earth’s North and South Poles swap places has been described by European scientists through a chilling audio clip.
In a recently released video by the European Space Agency (ESA), the Earth’s magnetic poles slowly switch positions amidst a cacophony of sounds resembling the continuous clashing of rock, wood, and metal.
According to Science Alert, a research team from the Technical University of Denmark and the German Research Center for Geosciences used data from ESA’s Swarm satellites to recreate the moment of the Earth’s magnetic pole reversal and converted that data into sound.
The moment of the Earth’s magnetic pole reversal is “fast-forwarded” in the clip created by European scientists – (Clip: ESA).
Generated by swirling liquid metals in the planet’s core, the Earth’s magnetic field can extend tens to hundreds of thousands of kilometers into space.
This creates what is known as the magnetosphere, which protects us by deflecting energetic solar particles, preventing them from destroying the atmosphere.
Currently, magnetic field lines form closed loops directed from South to North on the planet’s surface and from North to South deep within.
However, occasionally these magnetic field lines randomly reverse. This phenomenon, known as magnetic pole reversal, has occurred multiple times throughout the planet’s history.
If this were to happen again today, our compass pointing North would indicate the South Pole instead.
The chaotic magnetic field of the Earth during a magnetic pole reversal – (Graphic: NASA).
The last magnetic pole reversal occurred about 41,000 years ago, leaving its mark in the Laschamps lava flow in France, hence it is also known as the Laschamps event.
At that time, the magnetic field weakened to just 5% of its current strength, allowing a significant amount of cosmic rays to enter the Earth’s atmosphere.
According to a study published earlier this year, ice and marine sediments hold isotopic signatures indicating unusually high cosmic ray bombardment during this period, for instance, the amount of beryllium-10 isotopes doubled during the Laschamps event.
These altered atoms are formed when cosmic rays interact with our atmosphere, ionizing air and burning the ozone layer.
This is believed to have caused global climate changes, closely linked to the extinction of large animal species in Australia as well as changes in prehistoric human cave usage.
Geophysicist Sanja Panovska from the German Research Center for Geosciences stated that understanding these extreme events is crucial for predicting their likelihood of recurrence and their potential impacts on the current world.
The Laschamps reversal took about 250 years to complete, and the anomalies persisted for approximately 440 years before stabilizing again.
In the most optimistic scenario, the Earth’s magnetic field could retain about 25% of its current strength during the next magnetic pole reversal.
