Science Alert May 26, 2020
New satellite data from ESA reveal that the South Atlantic Anomaly is a vast expanse of reduced magnetic intensity in Earth’s magnetic field, extending all the way from South America to southwest Africa. Since our planet’s magnetic field acts as a kind of shield – protecting Earth from solar winds and cosmic radiation, in addition to determining the location of the magnetic poles – any reduction in its strength is an important event we need to monitor closely, as these changes could ultimately have significant implications for our planet. The ESA notes that the most significant effects right now are largely limited to technical malfunctions on board satellites and spacecraft. In the last two centuries, Earth’s magnetic field has lost about 9 percent of its strength on average. Exactly why this is happening remains a mystery. Research has shown that Earth’s magnetic field is constantly in a state of flux, and every few hundred thousand years (give or take), Earth’s magnetic field flips, with the north and south magnetic poles swapping places. It is not fully clear how those reversals might be tied to what is currently going on with the South Atlantic Anomaly…read more.
Division of Geomagnetism, DTU