Earth's magnetic field is weakening 10 times faster than thought in the Western Hemisphere

 The Earth’s magnetic field, which protects the planet from cosmic radiation, has grown weaker over the past six months.

Data collected by the European Space Agency’s Swarm satellites has indicated weak spots in the magnetic field.

The first set of high-resolution images generated from the constellation reveals dramatic declines over the Western Hemisphere.

 

However, the field has strengthened in other areas since January, including over the southern Indian Ocean.

Scientists are unsure why the magnetic field is weakening, but one reason could be that the magnetic poles are preparing to flip, Swarm mission manager Rune Floberghagen told Live Science.

The latest measurements, made by magnetometers on board the three Swarm satellites confirm the movement of magnetic North towards Siberia.

‘Such a flip is not instantaneous, it would take many hundreds if not a few thousand years.

'They have happened many times in the past,’ he said.

Changes in the strength of the Earth’s magnetic field are normal, but satellites have shown that it is weakening more rapidly than in the past.

Scientists have previously estimated that the Earth’s magnetic field is weakening at five per cent every century, but now they believe it could be diminishing 10 times as fast.

This means that the flip could occur sooner than the 2,000 years already predicted, according to experts who presented their findings at the Third Swarm Science Meeting in Denmark.

Culled from iBTIIMES