Movement of Earth's North Magnetic Pole Accelerating Rapidly (Forwarded)

News & Communication Services
Oregon State University

Contact:
Mark Floyd, 541-737-0788

Source:
Joe Stoner, 541-737-9002

12-08-05

Movement of Earth's North Magnetic Pole Accelerating Rapidly
By Mark Floyd

CORVALLIS, Ore. -- After some 400 years of relative stability, Earth's
North Magnetic Pole has moved nearly 1,100 kilometers out into the
Arctic Ocean during the last century and at its present rate could move
from northern Canada to Siberia within the next half-century.

If that happens, Alaska may be in danger of losing one of its most
stunning natural phenomena -- the Northern Lights.

But the surprisingly rapid movement of the magnetic pole doesn't
necessarily mean that our planet is going through a large-scale change
that would result in the reversal of the Earth's magnetic field, Oregon
State University paleomagnetist Joseph Stoner reported today at the
annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco, Calif.

"This may be part of a normal oscillation and it will eventually migrate
back toward Canada," said Stoner, an assistant professor in OSU's
College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences. "There is a lot of
variability in its movement."

Calculations of the North Magnetic Pole's location from historical
records goes back only about 400 years, while polar observations trace
back to John Ross in 1838 at the west coast of Boothia Peninsula. To
track its history beyond that, scientists have to dig into the Earth to
look for clues.

Stoner and his colleagues have examined the sediment record from several
Arctic lakes. These sediments -- magnetic particles called magnetite --
record the Earth's magnetic field at the time they were deposited. Using
carbon dating and other technologies -- including layer counting -- the
scientists can determine approximately when the sediments were deposited
and track changes in the magnetic field.

The Earth last went through a magnetic reversal some 780,000 years ago.
These episodic reversals, in which south becomes north and vice versa,
take thousands of years and are the result of complex changes in the
Earth's outer core. Liquid iron within the core generates the magnetic
field that blankets the planet.

Because of that field, a compass reading of north in Oregon will be
approximately 17 degrees east from "true geographic north." In Florida,
farther away and more in line with the poles, the declination is only
4-5 degrees west.

The Northern Lights, which are triggered by the Sun and fixed in
position by the magnetic field, drift with the movement of the North
Magnetic Pole and may soon be visible in more southerly parts of Siberia
and Europe -- and less so in northern Canada and Alaska.

In their research, funded by the National Science Foundation, Stoner and
his colleagues took core samples from several lakes, but focused on
Sawtooth Lake and Murray Lake on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian
Arctic. These lakes, about 40 to 80 meters deep, are covered by 2-3
meters of ice. The researchers drill through the ice, extend their corer
down through the water, and retrieve sediment cores about five meters
deep from the bottom of the lakes.

The 5-meter core samples provide sediments deposited up to about 5,000
years ago. Below that is bedrock, scoured clean by ice about 7,000 to
8,000 years ago.

"The conditions there give us nice age control," Stoner said. "One of
the problems with tracking the movement of the North Magnetic Pole has
been tying the changes in the magnetic field to time. There just hasn't
been very good time constraint. But these sediments provide a reliable
and reasonably tight timeline, having consistently been laid down at the
rate of about one millimeter a year in annual layers.

"We're trying to get the chronology down to a decadal scale or better."

What their research has told Stoner and his colleagues is that the North
Magnetic Pole has moved all over the place over the last few thousand
years. In general, it moves back and forth between northern Canada and
Siberia. But it also can veer sideways.

"There is a lot of variability in the polar motion," Stoner pointed out,
"but it isn't something that occurs often. There appears to be a 'jerk'
of the magnetic field that takes place every 500 years or so. The bottom
line is that geomagnetic changes can be a lot more abrupt than we ever
thought."

Shifts in the North Magnetic Pole are of interest beyond the scientific
community. Radiation influx is associated with the magnetic field, and
charged particles streaming down through the atmosphere can affect
airplane flights and telecommunications.

About the OSU College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences: COAS is
internationally recognized for its faculty, research and facilities,
including state-of-the-art computing infrastructure to support real-time
ocean/atmosphere observation and prediction. The college is a leader in
the study of the Earth as an integrated system, providing scientific
understanding to address complex environmental challenges.