Swarm reveals growing weak spot in Earth's magnetic field
11 comments
·October 14, 2025foobiekr
https://www.science.org/content/article/burned-satellites-ar...
I wonder if it relates to this.
foobarkey
Since the core is spinning as it always has, then dont think we humans caused this one? :)
Our energy needs are always insatiable so thats why I am not a big fan of geothermal, better not mess with the balance down there
zamalek
Or geothermal uptake is nothing compared to regular volcanic activity. Earth's poles swap positions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomagnetic_reversal
> Reversal occurrences appear to be statistically random. There have been at least 183 reversals over the last 83 million years
Whether this is part of one is anyone's guess.
Mindless2112
There was a time when we could say "our greenhouse gas emissions are nothing compared to regular biological processes," and yet here we are.
pizzathyme
One thing not mentioned in the article I expected: Does this invite more/less harmful UV radiation? Does it change overall temperature projections?
throwup238
It means more UV radiation. The Hubble telescope for example doesn't run its UV sensors while passing through the anomaly to keep them from getting damaged.
ACCount37
Wait, how? UV is spicy photons. Photons don't respond to magnetic fields, do they now?
patrickdavey
"Earth's magnetic field is vital to life on our planet. It is a complex and dynamic force that protects us from cosmic radiation and charged particles from the sun." (From the article, link to NASA info below)
https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/earth-science/eart...
throwup238
The anomaly brings the Van Allen Belt closer, weakening the ozone layer in the mesosphere. (On second thought the Hubble probably disables the sensor because of charged particles)
It doesn’t matter much to us down here because most UV is blocked in the stratosphere.
alganet
I wish these articles would go all the way showing a decent visualization of the increase.
I remember something like a KML overlay that would display magnetic data on Google Earth, but it was kind of obsolete and didn't had any historical data that could be used to observe change.
> has expanded by an area nearly half the size of continental Europe since 2014
The size-change of the area largely (quadratic because area...) depends on which intensity humans consider a "hole" and less on the actual decrease of the field intensity. That statement is not meaningful.
Alternatively, call it a vector field and explain it like a height map. Everyone understands what a deep valley is.