Will Compasses Point South?

New York Times ^ | July 13, 2004 | WILLIAM J. BROAD

[Conspiracy Guy]

Diferent story.

[RinaseaofDs]

It's going to be cool!

A local notice to mariners won't do it this time. The compass roses on chart would have to be redone, right? Maybe not. Maybe there will be a huge correction to apply.

Let's not forget everybody, the central question of the bearing of all things:

Can Dead Men Vote Twice, At Elections?

Magnetic bearing ping.

[Elsie]

...played piano with nose? I'd pay to see that.

No; he TYPED with his nose: didn't you read #27's response to #26 correctly???

[Elsie]

...played piano with nose? I'd pay to see that.

Why?? When so many play by EAR!

[Elsie]

...most people HOLD nose when I play.......

[Conspiracy Guy]

Start at 26 and read them all. I type with my nose to keep my hands free for wringing.

[Elsie]

Keep 1t up and the thread will REALLY be buggered!

[Elsie]

OOPS!!!

I meant 'BOOGERED!'

[Conspiracy Guy]

My nose is really sore too.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Well, there are a couple of errors/differences to be remembered:

From data in magnetic fields in rapidly-cooling lava flows, the transition is actually expected to be very short: perhaps as little as days and weeks.

The "heavens and earth" DON'T CHANGE if/when the magnetic field flips: Only the direction of the compass, and of course, ANYTHING (birds, snails, mammals, butterflies) that relies on their internal compasses for navigation gets affected. But the stars remain exactly where they were, and the earth's actual rotation remains the same.

Climate changes? Maybe, maybe not. No real evidence either way?

Does magnetic flips relate to current global warming? Don't know. Nobody is looking either!

---

Now: Earth's magnetic field is "rapidly" lowering in magnitude compared to earlier data.

Now: Earth's "north magnetic pole" is VERY RAPIDLY moving away from the Hudson bay and is now heading north-northwest towards Siberia at about 150-300 miles per year.

Earth's south magnetic pole is NOT changing as much, nor in a comparable direction.

---

But it is all Bush's fault.

[Robert A Cook PE]

See my notes in Nbr 51.

[sphinx]

Uhhh, if the flip is 180 degrees, why would compasses be a problem? I think I could adjust to the pointy end pointing south on my trusty field companion. (Although I'm sure compass manufacturers would make a fortune telling us we all had to buy new ones so the arrow still pointed north.)

[Robert A Cook PE]

See my comments in Nbr 51: The movement of the north magetic pole in the last few years is striking.

[Conspiracy Guy]

I must differ on one point.

Bush told Cheney to take care of this in Feb 2001. Cheney forgot so, "It's Cheney's Fault"

[Geritol]

The uncertainty of the pole shift is what impact the loss or "vibrations" of the magnetic field will have on everything from solar wind (that could irradiate crops, animals and people possibly causing famine, cancer, etc.) to UV and X-ray emissions of the sun (also possibly causing all kinds of mayhem), never before seen fluctuations in the propogation or blocking of all kinds of radio traffic, to the possibility of causing massive power surges on power grids.

This has never happened when we had so much land tied up in crops, so many miles of power cabling to receive power, so many devices depending on accurate position readings and communications. The main point is that while we can not truly know how we will be affected, there is a rather distinct possibility that it will be orders of magnitude worse than you imagine.

We have an interresting conflict of philosophies here. Insisting that it will be bad could destroy economies and countries even if nothing actually happens at all. Insisting that it has no possibility could be the difference between stepping back to last decade's economy and stepping back to the 1700's. Or farther. The question is how to logically prepare for the most likely outcomes, and yet have some small backup plan to keep the species alive if it is far worse than anyone fears.

[neverdem]

Thanks for the ping. I was going to post this.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Like the Los Angelos "Big One" earthquake, the expected magnetic polar switch is a l-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ong time overdue:

It has no been in a "stable" position for longer than it ever has before:

http://wrgis.wr.usgs.gov/docs/chron/paleomag/TIME.HTML

More general info:

http://wrgis.wr.usgs.gov/docs/chron/paleomag/TIME.HTML

[Poohbah]

We're doomed! The magnetic field collapse will kill my pony! And I don't even have it yet!

[1rudeboy]

Standard doomer lament:

needle pointing north = bad
needle pointing south = bad.