bpeden99 t1_jdlzf66 wrote on March 25, 2023 at 11:41 AM

Reply to comment by GeoGeoGeoGeo in Convection in the mantle shapes the long-term structure of Earth’s magnetic field by imposing a pattern of cooling that controls the dynamics of fluid flow at the top of the outer core by GeoGeoGeoGeo

Magnetic north has been constantly and slowly changing since forever. They repaint airport runways because of that. I was under the impression it will violently flip eventually?

GeoGeoGeoGeo OP t1_jdm0dou wrote on March 25, 2023 at 11:52 AM

It will never violently flip, that's just not how reversals or excursions occur. Reversals typically take anywhere between 4 and 9 thousand years to flip with the latest reversal taking 22 thousand years to reverse: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aaw4621

The magnetic pole wanders all the time. It's the intensity via gradual weakening that indicates an excursion or reversal.

bpeden99 t1_jdm0pjb wrote on March 25, 2023 at 11:56 AM

I'm not sure about wanders, it's pretty consistent in moving north and northwest. But I understand the flip better, thank you