New research suggests a polar flip could be catastrophic – BGR

• The earth’s magnetic poles are constantly moving, but they have not yet drifted enough to turn around in modern times.
• Scientists know that the earth’s poles have turned in the past, but opinions are divided about the consequences such an event may have on the planet and its inhabitants.
• Now, new research suggests that a magnetic pole flip brought about dramatic changes about 42,000 years ago and possibly changed the course of human history.

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Disaster movies have shown us what Hollywood thinks could happen if the poles of the earth suddenly turned, but the reality of the situation would probably be very different. We do not know for sure how daily life will be affected if the magnetic poles of our planet suddenly go bad, but scientists are constantly looking for evidence of polar movements in the past to get a better idea of ​​what we can expect.

A new study published in Science provides us with useful information thanks to one extremely old tree. The tree, which occurred about 42,000 years ago when the most recent magnetic pole flip occurred, indicates dramatic and possibly catastrophic changes that have taken place in the atmosphere and on the surface of our planet.

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As NPR reports, the scientists were able to use a tree that was long dead but well preserved, to better understand a massive part of the Earth’s history. By studying the rings of the tree, the scientists obtained a detailed record of about 1,700 years. This tree happened to live during the most recent revolution of the magnetic pole, and an analysis of the rings suggests that it was a challenging time for anything living on earth.

The team was specifically looking for a carbon signature in the tree’s rings. The kind of carbon that scientists have been looking for is created when cosmic rays can hit the earth’s atmosphere. When the Earth’s magnetic field is strong, as it is today, the amount of carbon generated by this interaction is relatively low, but it rises when the magnetic field weakens and allows more cosmic rays to pass through.

The researchers were able to find a wealth of this type of carbon in the rings of the tree that would be produced during the polar reversal, suggesting that such an event was directly linked to a dramatic change in the strength of the Earth’s magnetic field.

“This record shows a significant increase in the carbon-14 content of the atmosphere resulting in the attenuation of the magnetic field strength in front of the polarity switch,” Science explain. “The authors modeled the consequences of this event and concluded that the geomagnetic field caused at least significant changes in atmospheric ozone concentration that caused the synchronous global climate and environmental shifts.”

The researchers believe that this event would have bathed the earth in ultraviolet radiation due to the attenuated magnetic field and the damage to the ozone layer that followed. It may even have caused the extinction of many species. We still do not know when or why the magnetic poles rotate, but when it does happen again, we can be difficult.

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