Solar Activity

[Keg]

I signed up online for "space weather" alerts. So far, I don't notice any relation between crab activity and solar events.Issue Time: 2013 Jul 12 0513 UTCCONTINUED ALERT: Electron 2MeV Integral Flux exceeded 1000pfuBegin Time: 2013 Jul 10 1655 UTCYesterday Maximum 2MeV Flux: 3654 pfuPotential Impacts: Satellite systems may experience significant charging resulting in increased risk to satellite systems.NOAA Space Weather Scales (meaning of R1, S1, Etc.) can be found at http://www.knowledgeorb.com/cu...pace-weather-scales/

[Crabber85]

@Keg, I'm pretty sure you know about this but about six months ago I stumbled upon some interesting info our planet is nearing the middle of a polar shift and in fifty years our north and south magnetic poles will be shifted from todays magnetic north and south and the guys and gals over at NASA and NOAA having been tracking this magnetic migration for ten years now and have just begun letting some of their information out.From what I gather during the next several decades we will be witness to aurora over the equator and magnetic storms not to mention increases in skin cancer and skin aging from the weakened magnetic shield during this time.This magnetic migration is what is responsible for keeping our core going as each time it attempts to slow down and harden over the magnetic field protecting us flips restarting the dynamo keeping our planet alive.It's a very interesting phenomenon that happens every five thousand years or so so we are a bit late according to the article.Whats very interesting to me is that we have recently made the discovery that Mars died due its core slowing down then stopping and hardening over because its magnetic shield failed to flip and actually weakened then eventually almost completely disappeared allowing cosmic and solar radiation to bombard the planet stripping it of it's atmosphere and subsequently its water.According to the article the same thing should have happened to the earth at nearly the same time but for whatever reason our planet was able to flip its fields keeping the core going which in turn keeps the field strong.

[finalfantasyxii]

Um... WOAH. That totally blows my mind! Go Earth.

[Keg]

@crabber85 Geomagnetic pole reversals have happened many times in the past; at least twice during human evolution: One 780,000 years ago and a brief one 41,000 years ago.It didn't wipe out all life then, so the field doesn't keep the planet alive, it just blocks out most of the solar radiation, along with the atmosphere.Assuming pole reversal is underway, it generally takes 1000 to 10000 years to complete the cycle. This is at least 50 generations away. They say if the magnetic field went away, we would have problems with satelites, electronics and the power grid.But who knows what technology will look like 1000 years from now? Could someone living in the year 1013 imagine our technology? If he could imagine our era, he would probably say, "I'm glad I won't be around to see that!"But he would be wrong, because he forgot to imagine plumbing, retirements, and futuristic girls.The point is, we have more relevent worries. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomagnetic_reversalI did see an article that said the earth's magnetic field is 10% weaker now than it was in the 1800's, so one might make a case for a reversal in a relatively short time. But you know, the core is liquid. It is always moving. It doesn't neccesarily keep moving in the same direction.