| "For example, bubbles of air in glacial ice trap tiny samples of Earth’s atmosphere, giving scientists a history of greenhouse gases that stretches back more than 800,000 years. The chemical make-up of the ice provides clues to the average global temperature." [1] Is NASA incorrect about this? This XKCD visualizes the historic rates of temperature change in a pretty compelling way: https://xkcd.com/1732/ > I cannot imagine what a pole reversal would look like today. The truly scary thing is contemplating just how many things depend on, or assume polar north is where it is today. I would ask in response - do magnetic poles impact climate change? (I presume you are talking about the magnetic polar north & south). According to NASA the magnetic poles have essentially no impact on climate change: "Some people have claimed that variations in Earth’s magnetic field are contributing to current global warming and can cause catastrophic climate change. However, the science doesn’t support that argument. In this blog, we’ll examine a number of proposed hypotheses regarding the effects of changes in Earth’s magnetic field on climate. We’ll also discuss physics-based reasons why changes in the magnetic field can’t impact climate." [2] What other impacts do the magnetic poles have? It is very interesting to me that the magnetic poles move by "34 miles (55 kilometers) per year" [2]. That is a pretty reasonably steady and fast rate of change. Seems like navigation equipment and anything else that relies on polar north should already be baking this in. After a decade, it's 340 miles of movement. [1] https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/GlobalWarming/pag... [2] https://climate.nasa.gov/explore/ask-nasa-climate/3104/flip-... |
Animal migration | navigation and sheilding from cosmic gamma rays and high energy solar flux.
On that last point for humans an instantanous reversal is not the big issue, it would be the transition from one state to the next that could conceivably see long (ish) periods either unprotected from high energy cosmic rays and|or some areas enduring concentrated gamma rays focused in by changing magnetic field lines.
> Seems like navigation equipment and anything else that relies on polar north should already be baking this in.
Have been for a century at least (in a rough fashion), the World Magnetic Model (WMM) and the International Geomagnetic Reference Field (IGRF) date back to the 1960s or so and have their parameters updated on a five year epoch to provide a detailed fine resolution surface field model with local vecotors and rates of change.
https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/world-magnetic-model
https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/international-geomagnetic...