Swarm Reveals Growing Weak Spot in Earth's Magnetic Field

Posted3 months agoActive3 months ago

Brajeshwar

19 points

12 comments

phys.orgSciencestory

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Earth's Magnetic FieldClimate ChangeGeophysics

Key topics

Earth's Magnetic Field

Climate Change

Geophysics

The European Space Agency's Swarm mission has identified a growing weak spot in Earth's magnetic field, sparking discussion about its potential implications for the environment and satellite technology.

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Oct 14, 2025 at 11:56 AM EDT
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Discussion (12 comments)

Showing 12 comments

pizzathyme

3 months ago

1 reply

One thing not mentioned in the article I expected: Does this invite more/less harmful UV radiation? Does it change overall temperature projections?

throwup238

3 months ago

1 reply

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

3 months ago

2 replies

Wait, how? UV is spicy photons. Photons don't respond to magnetic fields, do they now?

throwup238

3 months ago

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.

patrickdavey

3 months ago

"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...

foobarkey

3 months ago

2 replies

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

3 months ago

1 reply

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

3 months ago

There was a time when we could say "our greenhouse gas emissions are nothing compared to regular biological processes," and yet here we are.

ge96

3 months ago

> core is spinning

If Virgil needs more blood, it will be my blood

alganet

3 months ago

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.

foobiekr

3 months ago

https://www.science.org/content/article/burned-satellites-ar...

I wonder if it relates to this.

LargoLasskhyfv

3 months ago

https://theethicalskeptic.com/2024/05/12/exothermic-core-man...

https://github.com/sovrynn/ecdo

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ID: 45581570Type: storyLast synced: 11/20/2025, 2:43:43 PM

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