Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

bpeden99 t1_jdlzf66 wrote

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?

1

GeoGeoGeoGeo OP t1_jdm0dou wrote

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.

4

bpeden99 t1_jdm0pjb wrote

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

0