UPDATE 2010:
Earth's north magnetic pole racing towards Russia due to core flux
Washington, December 25 : A new research has determined that Earth's north magnetic pole is racing toward Russia at almost 40 miles (64 kilometers) a year due to magnetic changes in the planet's core.
The core is too deep for scientists to directly detect its magnetic field. But researchers can infer the field's movements by tracking how Earth's magnetic field has been changing at the surface and in space.
Now, according to a report in National Geographic News, newly analyzed data suggest that there's a region of rapidly changing magnetism on the core's surface, possibly being created by a mysterious 'plume' of magnetism arising from deeper in the core.
'It's this region that could be pulling the magnetic pole away from its long-time location in northern Canada,' said Arnaud Chulliat, a geophysicist at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris in France.
Magnetic north, which is the place where compass
needles actually point, is near but not exactly in the same place as the geographic North Pole.
Right now, magnetic north is close to Canada's Ellesmere Island.
Navigators have used magnetic north for centuries to orient themselves when they are far from recognizable landmarks.
Although global positioning systems have largely replaced such traditional techniques, many people still find compasses useful for getting around underwater and underground where GPS satellites can't communicate.
The magnetic north pole had moved little from the time scientists first located it in 1831.
Then in 1904, the pole began shifting northeastward at a steady pace of about 9 miles (15 kilometers) a year.
In 1989 it sped up again, and in 2007 scientists confirmed that the pole is now galloping toward Siberia at 34 to 37 miles (55 to 60 kilometers) a year.
A rapidly shifting magnetic pole means that magnetic-field maps need to be updated more often to allow compass users to make the crucial adjustment from magnetic north to true North.
Geologists think Earth has a magnetic field because the core is made up of a solid iron center surrounded by rapidly spinning liquid rock.
This creates a 'dynamo' that drives our magnetic field.
Scientists had long suspected that, since the molten core is constantly moving, changes in its magnetism might be affecting the surface location of magnetic north.
Although the new research seems to back up this idea, Chulliat is skeptical whether magnetic north will eventually cross into Russia.
'It's too difficult to forecast,' Chulliat said.
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Comments:
Hapgood makes some great arguments, however, I feel it would take some outside
force or disruption of our planet to cause a polar or crustal shift. There is no
telling what lurks out in the darkness of space outside our solar system and
heading our way.
Robert Napier
The geological and paleontological evidence presented by Hapgood is just too good a fit to discount.
As I recall, in the 60s the concept of plate-tectonics was just as controversial .
His theory allows for both crust shift and plate-technonics.
There's really no reason not to accept Hapgood's theory as possible and simply suggest , as Einstein did, further search for the force that causes the periodic crust shift.
Personally, I feel so little is known about composition of the inner earth) that an internal force, or a tidal interaction betwen sun, earth and moon are more likely than an extra-solar system cause.
However, the gravitational forces of a periodic large mass fly by could fit the bill.
My view is that we might as well accept crustal shift.
We have maybe 10,000 years to figure it out.
That said, we have energy resource constraints, mass migration, and environmental-change issues that confront us in the next decades!
Brian
I've always been facinated by the theory of polar slide/polar shift/polar drift and I'm sure many more people will be after this new movie (2012) comes out. There are a few which actually look possibe and Mr. Hopgood's theory is one of the ones that stands out best. It takes into consideration climate change with movement of polar ice caps. Even looking at ancient maps, we can see Antartica was not always completely covered by polar ice; so his theory seems sound.
I like how he also looks for outside factor such as meteor collision to explain such factors. I would like to offer another such factor to help with understanding polar shift and the possiblilty of why it happens. How about magnetics? We do ride on a great big electro-magnetic generator. So considering this how many other things in this galaxy of ours have a magnetic charge? Other planets? The do spin as well with the same basic makeup of our planet, however, some are only gasses. The makeup of our planet is molten metals revolving around a lead core making it much stronger then others that are made up of gasses.
So again, this large electro-magnetic generator (which is polarized) might look for outside attractors and magnetic pull can be a very strong attractor. So what can we look for? Well, anything in space can be seen to have an EM field on it. So what polarization are things like Jupiter? Haley's Comet? Our local fussion generator Sol (our sun)? Black holes? The super black hole at the center of the galaxy? What else in this galaxy is polarized?
Let's say we take a table and put two magnets on it. We call one earth and another "outside attractor". If we were to move the magnets close enough to each other to affect one another, we could manipulate one magnet with the other. By pushing the north end of "outside attractor" toward the north end of earth, or vice versa, we could move it slightly. Now let's put a nail or screw through the center of earth to represent the sun's gravity which keeps us in orbit and you see a drastic difference in the movement of that magnet.
For arguement's sake, let's say we pass kinda close, say a couple of light years, from a pulsar that is generating positive (north) and our south pole is attracted? Could this not cause the pole to shift slightly? Or perhaps we move a little too close (again, a couple of light years) to a negative charged black hole. Wouldn't that push the south pole away like in the same manner of the magnets?
Really, these are just the thoughts of someone who works with electricity and understand how some electro-magnetics work. Noone of real importance and certainly not a great mind of our time. However, just offering a theory and something for those who read this to think about.
JD Glenn III