JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.
FIRST ANGEL TO DR DOCTORIAN
The first angel said: I have a message for all of Asia. When he said that, in a split few seconds, I could see all of China, India, the Asian countries like Vietnam, Laos - I've never been to those countries. I saw the Philippines, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. And then the angel showed me all of Papua New Guinea, Irian Jaya and down to Australia and New Zealand.I am the angel of Asia, he said. And in
his hand I saw a tremendous trumpet that he is going to blow all over Asia. Whatever the angel said, it's going to happen with the trumpet of the Lord all over Asia. Millions are going to hear the mighty voice of the Lord. Then the angel said, There shall be disaster, starvation - many will die from hunger. Strong winds will be looked like has never happened before. A great part shall be shaken and destroyed. Earthquakes will take place all over Asia and the sea will cover the earth.I saw this on June 20. Today is August 16. A few weeks ago I heard the news of villages completely wiped out and washed into the sea in Papua New Guinea. Thousand of lives in great jeopardy. That happened a few weeks ago, and the angel told me it is going to happen all over Asia. The earth will fall into the sea, I heard the angel say, part of Australia will be shaken. Australia will be divided, and a great part will go under the ocean. This was frightening - I wondered whether I was hearing right. But the angel said,Millions will die in China and in India. Nation will be against nation, brother against brother. Asians will fight each other. Nuclear weapons shall be used, killing millions. Twice I heard the words, Catastrophic! Catastrophic! then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.I was trembling while the angel was speaking. Then he looked at me and smiled and
said, There shall be the greatest spiritual awakening - bondage will be broken. Barriers will be removed. And all over Asia - China - India - people will turn to Christ. In Australia there shall be tremendous revival. I heard the angel of Asia say, It is the last harvest.Then as if the Lord were speaking, he said, I shall prepare My church for the return of Christ. I was happy with such good news after the message of judgment. All the time the five angels were in my room I could feel their presence - it was tremendous.
SECOND ANGEL TO DR DOCTORIAN
Then I saw that the second angel had a sickle in his hand, such as is used in harvesting. The second angel said, Harvest time has come in Israel and the countries all the way to Iran. I saw those countries in a few split seconds. All of Turkey and those [inaudible;] countries that have refused me and refused my message of love shall hate each other and kill one another. I saw the angel raise the sickle and come down on all the Middle East countries.I saw Iran, Persia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, all of Georgia - Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, all of Asia Minor - full of blood. I saw blood all over these countries. And I saw fire; Nuclear weapons used in many of those countries. Smoke rising from everywhere. Sudden destruction - men destroying one another.I heard these words, Israel, Oh Israel, the great judgment has come.The angel said, The chosen, the church, the remnant, shall be purified. The Spirit of God shall prepare the children of God. I saw fires rising
to heaven. The angel said, This is the final judgment. My church shall be purified, protected and ready for the final day. Men will die from thirst. Water shall be scarce all over the Middle East. Rivers shall dry up, and men will fight for water in those countries.The angel showed me that the United Nations shall be broken in pieces because of the crisis in the Middle East. There shall be no more United Nations. The
angel with the sickle shall reap the harvest.
THIRD ANGEL TO DR DOCTORIAN
Then one of the angels with wings showed me Europe from one end to the other - from the north all the way down to Spain and Portugal. In his hand he had a scale of measurement. I saw him fly over Europe, and I heard the words, I am grieved. I am grieved. Unrighteousness, uncleanness, ungodliness - all over Europe. The sin has risen to heaven. The Holy Spirit is grieved. I saw the rivers of Europe flooding and covering millions of houses. Millions drown. After seeing this, I read the news a few weeks ago. Czechoslovakia had the worst flooding ever. I also heard that the big river in China is in tremendous danger of thousands of houses being destroyed in flooding. I didn't know all this news until after I had seen the vision and heard what the angels told me.Suddenly I heard earthquakes all over Europe. Countries that have had no earthquakes shall be shaken, said the angel. And suddenly, in my spirit, I saw the Eiffel Tower in Paris crumbling falling down. A great part of Germany destroyed. The great city of London - destruction everywhere. I saw floods all over Scandinavia. I looked to the south and saw Spain and Portugal passing through hunger and great destruction.Many will die from hunger all over Spain and Portugal. I was disturbed by all this news, and I said, Lord, what about your children? The angel said, I shall prepare them. They shall be looking for the appearing of the Lord. Many will cry to me in those days and I will save them. I shall perform mighty miracles for them and show them My power. So in the midst of great destruction, there will be the grace of God in those countries. I was happy that God has His protection over His children.
FOURTH ANGEL TO DR DOCTORIAN
Now we go to Africa. I saw the fourth angel with wings fly over Africa, and I could see from Capetown in the south all the way to the north of Cairo - I saw all the countries there, more than fifty of them. The angel of Africa had a sword in his hand - a tremendous, sharp sword. Suddenly I heard him say, Innocent blood has been shed. Divisions amongst the people generations far from the Lord - they have killed one another, thousands of people. I have seen my faithful children in Africa, and I shall reward all the faithful in the continent of Africa. I shall bless them abundantly. I shall control the weather - scorching and burning of the sun in some parts. Great rivers shall dry up, and millions will die from starvation. In other parts, flooding. Foundations shall be shaken. My sword shall judge the unrighteous and the bloodthirsty. So many earthquakes shall happen that rivers shall flow different directions in the continent, flooding many villages. I saw great pieces falling from the sky over different parts of Africa .There shall be trembling of the earth like has not been seen since the creation. None shall escape the sword of the Lord. I saw the River Nile drying up. It is the god of Egypt. Fishes dead and stinking all over Egypt. A great part of the middle of Africa will be covered with water - millions dying. Lord, I said, It is all bad news. All destruction. Any good news? The Lord said, The final day has come. Judgment day is here. My love has been refused now, and the end has come. I was shaking and trembling. I thought I cannot bear it.
FIFTH ANGEL TO DR DOCTORIAN
Then I saw the last angel flying over North and South America - all the way from the North Pole down to Argentina. From the east of the U.S.A. to California. I saw in his hand a bowl. The angel said he would pour out over these countries the judgments that were in the bowl. Then I heard the angel say, No justice anymore. No righteousness. No holiness. Idolatry. Materialism. Drunkenness. Bondage of sin. Shedding of innocent blood - millions of babies being killed before they are born. Families are broken. An adulterous generation. Sodom and Gomorrah is here. The days of Noah are here. False preachers. False prophets. Refusing of my love. Many of them have the imitation of religion, but denying the real power.When I heard all that, I begged the angel, Can you not wait for a little while? Don't pour it. Give a chance for repentance.The angel said, Many times God has spared and has spoken, but they have not listened. His patience has come to an end. Beware, the time has come. They have loved money and pleasure more than they have loved Me. As the angel began to pour from the bowl in his hand, I saw tremendous icebergs melting. When that happened I saw floods all over Canada and North America - all the rivers flood; destruction everywhere. I heard the world market collapsing with mighty earthquakes, and New York skyscrapers were tumbling - millions dying.I saw ships in the ocean sinking. I heard explosions all over the north country. I saw the angel pouring over Mexico and two oceans joining together- the Atlantic and the Pacific. A great part of north Brazil covered with water, the Amazon River turning into a great sea. Forests destroyed and flooded. Major cities in Brazil destroyed; earthquakes in many places. As the angel poured, great destruction took place in Chile and Argentina as never before. The whole world was shaking. Then I heard the angel say, This will happen in a very short time.I said, Can't you postpone? Don't pour these things out all over the globe. And suddenly I saw the five angels standing around the globe lifting up their hands and their wings towards heaven and saying, All glory to the Lord of heaven and earth. Now the time has come and He will glorify His Son. The earth shall be burned and destroyed. All things shall pass away. The new Heaven and New Earth shall come. God shall destroy the works of the devil forever. I shall show My power - how I will protect My children in the midst of all this destruction.
Be ready for that day, for the Lord has come.My room was full of light from the brightness of the angels. Then suddenly they ascended up to heaven. As I looked up I saw the angels go in five directions. I know they already have started their duties. For more than an hour I could not move. I was wide-awake, trembling from time to time. I said, Lord, shall I leave Patmos now? He said, No, I brought you here for a purpose. I said,The message from the angels all over the world is not good news. It is judgment, punishment, destruction, devastation. What will people say about me? I've always been a preacher of love, peace and good news. The angel said, It is our message. You are the instrument, the channel. What a privilege that God has chosen you to give this message to the nations. I said, Lord, Thy will be done.To God be the glory.
The end of the world as we know it
could come in any number of ways, depending on who you ask. Some people
believe global cataclysm will occur when Earth's magnetic poles
reverse. When north goes south, they say, the continents will lurch in
one direction or the other, triggering massive earthquakes, rapid
climate change and species extinctions.
The geologic record shows that hundreds of pole reversals have occurred throughout Earth's history; they happen when patches of iron atoms in Earth's liquid outer core become reverse-aligned, like tiny magnets oriented in the opposite direction from those around them. When the reversed patches grow to the point that they dominate the rest of the core, Earth's overall magnetic field flips. The last reversal happened 780,000 years ago during the Stone Age, and indeed there's evidence to suggest the planet may be in the early stages of a pole reversal right now.But should we really fear this event? What will actually happen when north-pointing compasses make a 180-degree turn toward Antarctica? Will the continents tear themselves apart, or are we in store for much more mundane changes?
Weak field
"The most dramatic changes that occur when the poles reverse is a very large decrease of the total field intensity," said Jean-Pierre Valet, who conducts research on geomagnetic reversals at the Institute of Earth Physics of Paris. [5 Ways the World Will Change Dramatically this Century]
Earth's magnetic field takes between 1,000 and 10,000 years to reverse, and in the process, it greatly diminishes before it re-aligns. "It's not a sudden flip, but a slow process, during which the field strength becomes weak, very probably the field becomes more complex and might show more than two poles for a while, and then builds up in strength and [aligns] in the opposite direction," said Monika Korte, the scientific director of the Niemegk Geomagnetic Observatory at GFZ Potsdam in Germany.
Supercomputer models of Earth's magnetic field. On
the left is a normal dipolar magnetic field. On the right is the sort of
complicated magnetic field Earth has leading up to a reversal.
Credit: NASA
The scientists say it's the weak in-between phase that would be roughest on Earthlings.
According to John Tarduno, professor
of geophysics at the University of Rochester, a strong magnetic field
helps protect Earth from blasts of radiation from the sun. "Coronal mass
ejections (CMEs) occasionally occur on the Sun, and sometimes hurtle
directly toward Earth," Tarduno said. "Some of the particles associated
with CMEs can be blocked by Earth's magnetic field. With a weak field,
this shielding is less efficient."The charged particles bombarding Earth's atmosphere during solar storms
would punch holes in Earth's atmosphere, and this could hurt humans.
"Ozone holes, like that over Antarctica (which today are due to an
entirely different cause related to man) could form as solar particles
interact with the atmosphere in a cascade of chemical reactions. These
'holes' would not be permanent, but might be present on one- to 10-year
timescales — arguably important enough to be a concern in terms of skin
cancer rates," Tarduno said. [Will Sunscreen Protect You from the Upcoming Solar Flares?] Valet agrees that a weak magnetic field could lead to the formation of
ozone holes. He wrote a paper last year proposing a direct link between
the demise of Neanderthals,
our evolutionary cousins, and a significant decrease of the geomagnetic
field intensity that occurred exactly at the same period. (That time,
the lead-up to a geomagnetic reversal appears to have been "aborted";
the field weakened but didn't end up flipping.)
Other scientists aren't convinced that there's a connection between pole reversals and species extinctions. "Even if the field becomes very weak, at the Earth's surface we are shielded from radiation by the atmosphere. Similarly as we cannot see or feel the presence of the geomagnetic field now, we most likely would not notice any significant change from a reversal," Korte said.Our technology definitely would be in danger, however. Even now, solar storms can damage satellites, cause power outages and interrupt radio communications.
"These kinds of negative influences clearly will increase if the
magnetic field and thus its shielding function became significantly
weaker, e.g. during a reversal, and it will be important to find
mitigation strategies," she told Life's Little Mysteries.One additional worry is that a weakening and eventual reversal in the
field would disorient all those species that rely on geomagnetism for
navigation, including bees, salmon, turtles, whales, bacteria and
pigeons. There is no scientific consensus on how those creatures would
cope.
Continental shifts?
Many of the disaster scenarios associated with geomagnetic pole reversals in popular imagination are pure fantasy, the scientists said. There definitely won't be any break-up or shift of the continents.The first proof is the geologic record. When the last pole switch happened, "no worldwide shifting of continents or other planet-wide disasters occurred, as geoscientists can testify to from fossil and other records," said Alan Thompson, head of geomagnetism at the British Geological Survey.The scientists explained that changes in the Earth's liquid core happen on a completely different distance and timescale than convection in the Earth's mantle (which causes Earth's tectonic plates to shift, moving the continents). The liquid core does indeed touch the bottom of the mantle, but it would take tens of millions of years for changes in the core to propagate up through the mantle and influence the motion of the tectonic plates. In short, "there is no evidence from the geological past and in my opinion also no conceivable method that magnetic reversals couldtrigger Earthquakes," Korte said.
Sooner or later
The geomagnetic field is currently weakening, possibly because of a growing patch of reverse-alignment in the liquid core deep beneath Brazil and the South Atlantic. According to Tarduno, the strength of Earth's magnetic field "has been decreasing for at least 160 years at an alarming rate, leading some to speculate that we are heading toward a reversal."
Image of the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA), the
region where Earth's magnetic field is weakest, taken by the ROSAT
satellite in the 1990s.
Credit: NASA
The reversal might happen, or it might be aborted — Earth is too
complex a system for scientists to know which outcome to expect. Either
way, the process will drag on over the next few thousand years, giving
us time to adjust to the changes. Follow Natalie Wolchover on Twitter @nattyover. Follow Life's Little Mysteries on Twitter @llmysteries, then join us on Facebook.
FIRST ANGEL TO DR DOCTORIAN
The first angel said: I have a message for all of Asia. When he said that, in a split few seconds, I could see all of China, India, the Asian countries like Vietnam, Laos - I've never been to those countries. I saw the Philippines, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. And then the angel showed me all of Papua New Guinea, Irian Jaya and down to Australia and New Zealand.I am the angel of Asia, he said. And in
his hand I saw a tremendous trumpet that he is going to blow all over Asia. Whatever the angel said, it's going to happen with the trumpet of the Lord all over Asia. Millions are going to hear the mighty voice of the Lord. Then the angel said, There shall be disaster, starvation - many will die from hunger. Strong winds will be looked like has never happened before. A great part shall be shaken and destroyed. Earthquakes will take place all over Asia and the sea will cover the earth.I saw this on June 20. Today is August 16. A few weeks ago I heard the news of villages completely wiped out and washed into the sea in Papua New Guinea. Thousand of lives in great jeopardy. That happened a few weeks ago, and the angel told me it is going to happen all over Asia. The earth will fall into the sea, I heard the angel say, part of Australia will be shaken. Australia will be divided, and a great part will go under the ocean. This was frightening - I wondered whether I was hearing right. But the angel said,Millions will die in China and in India. Nation will be against nation, brother against brother. Asians will fight each other. Nuclear weapons shall be used, killing millions. Twice I heard the words, Catastrophic! Catastrophic! then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.I was trembling while the angel was speaking. Then he looked at me and smiled and
said, There shall be the greatest spiritual awakening - bondage will be broken. Barriers will be removed. And all over Asia - China - India - people will turn to Christ. In Australia there shall be tremendous revival. I heard the angel of Asia say, It is the last harvest.Then as if the Lord were speaking, he said, I shall prepare My church for the return of Christ. I was happy with such good news after the message of judgment. All the time the five angels were in my room I could feel their presence - it was tremendous.
SECOND ANGEL TO DR DOCTORIAN
Then I saw that the second angel had a sickle in his hand, such as is used in harvesting. The second angel said, Harvest time has come in Israel and the countries all the way to Iran. I saw those countries in a few split seconds. All of Turkey and those [inaudible;] countries that have refused me and refused my message of love shall hate each other and kill one another. I saw the angel raise the sickle and come down on all the Middle East countries.I saw Iran, Persia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, all of Georgia - Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, all of Asia Minor - full of blood. I saw blood all over these countries. And I saw fire; Nuclear weapons used in many of those countries. Smoke rising from everywhere. Sudden destruction - men destroying one another.I heard these words, Israel, Oh Israel, the great judgment has come.The angel said, The chosen, the church, the remnant, shall be purified. The Spirit of God shall prepare the children of God. I saw fires rising
to heaven. The angel said, This is the final judgment. My church shall be purified, protected and ready for the final day. Men will die from thirst. Water shall be scarce all over the Middle East. Rivers shall dry up, and men will fight for water in those countries.The angel showed me that the United Nations shall be broken in pieces because of the crisis in the Middle East. There shall be no more United Nations. The
angel with the sickle shall reap the harvest.
THIRD ANGEL TO DR DOCTORIAN
Then one of the angels with wings showed me Europe from one end to the other - from the north all the way down to Spain and Portugal. In his hand he had a scale of measurement. I saw him fly over Europe, and I heard the words, I am grieved. I am grieved. Unrighteousness, uncleanness, ungodliness - all over Europe. The sin has risen to heaven. The Holy Spirit is grieved. I saw the rivers of Europe flooding and covering millions of houses. Millions drown. After seeing this, I read the news a few weeks ago. Czechoslovakia had the worst flooding ever. I also heard that the big river in China is in tremendous danger of thousands of houses being destroyed in flooding. I didn't know all this news until after I had seen the vision and heard what the angels told me.Suddenly I heard earthquakes all over Europe. Countries that have had no earthquakes shall be shaken, said the angel. And suddenly, in my spirit, I saw the Eiffel Tower in Paris crumbling falling down. A great part of Germany destroyed. The great city of London - destruction everywhere. I saw floods all over Scandinavia. I looked to the south and saw Spain and Portugal passing through hunger and great destruction.Many will die from hunger all over Spain and Portugal. I was disturbed by all this news, and I said, Lord, what about your children? The angel said, I shall prepare them. They shall be looking for the appearing of the Lord. Many will cry to me in those days and I will save them. I shall perform mighty miracles for them and show them My power. So in the midst of great destruction, there will be the grace of God in those countries. I was happy that God has His protection over His children.
FOURTH ANGEL TO DR DOCTORIAN
Now we go to Africa. I saw the fourth angel with wings fly over Africa, and I could see from Capetown in the south all the way to the north of Cairo - I saw all the countries there, more than fifty of them. The angel of Africa had a sword in his hand - a tremendous, sharp sword. Suddenly I heard him say, Innocent blood has been shed. Divisions amongst the people generations far from the Lord - they have killed one another, thousands of people. I have seen my faithful children in Africa, and I shall reward all the faithful in the continent of Africa. I shall bless them abundantly. I shall control the weather - scorching and burning of the sun in some parts. Great rivers shall dry up, and millions will die from starvation. In other parts, flooding. Foundations shall be shaken. My sword shall judge the unrighteous and the bloodthirsty. So many earthquakes shall happen that rivers shall flow different directions in the continent, flooding many villages. I saw great pieces falling from the sky over different parts of Africa .There shall be trembling of the earth like has not been seen since the creation. None shall escape the sword of the Lord. I saw the River Nile drying up. It is the god of Egypt. Fishes dead and stinking all over Egypt. A great part of the middle of Africa will be covered with water - millions dying. Lord, I said, It is all bad news. All destruction. Any good news? The Lord said, The final day has come. Judgment day is here. My love has been refused now, and the end has come. I was shaking and trembling. I thought I cannot bear it.
FIFTH ANGEL TO DR DOCTORIAN
Then I saw the last angel flying over North and South America - all the way from the North Pole down to Argentina. From the east of the U.S.A. to California. I saw in his hand a bowl. The angel said he would pour out over these countries the judgments that were in the bowl. Then I heard the angel say, No justice anymore. No righteousness. No holiness. Idolatry. Materialism. Drunkenness. Bondage of sin. Shedding of innocent blood - millions of babies being killed before they are born. Families are broken. An adulterous generation. Sodom and Gomorrah is here. The days of Noah are here. False preachers. False prophets. Refusing of my love. Many of them have the imitation of religion, but denying the real power.When I heard all that, I begged the angel, Can you not wait for a little while? Don't pour it. Give a chance for repentance.The angel said, Many times God has spared and has spoken, but they have not listened. His patience has come to an end. Beware, the time has come. They have loved money and pleasure more than they have loved Me. As the angel began to pour from the bowl in his hand, I saw tremendous icebergs melting. When that happened I saw floods all over Canada and North America - all the rivers flood; destruction everywhere. I heard the world market collapsing with mighty earthquakes, and New York skyscrapers were tumbling - millions dying.I saw ships in the ocean sinking. I heard explosions all over the north country. I saw the angel pouring over Mexico and two oceans joining together- the Atlantic and the Pacific. A great part of north Brazil covered with water, the Amazon River turning into a great sea. Forests destroyed and flooded. Major cities in Brazil destroyed; earthquakes in many places. As the angel poured, great destruction took place in Chile and Argentina as never before. The whole world was shaking. Then I heard the angel say, This will happen in a very short time.I said, Can't you postpone? Don't pour these things out all over the globe. And suddenly I saw the five angels standing around the globe lifting up their hands and their wings towards heaven and saying, All glory to the Lord of heaven and earth. Now the time has come and He will glorify His Son. The earth shall be burned and destroyed. All things shall pass away. The new Heaven and New Earth shall come. God shall destroy the works of the devil forever. I shall show My power - how I will protect My children in the midst of all this destruction.
Be ready for that day, for the Lord has come.My room was full of light from the brightness of the angels. Then suddenly they ascended up to heaven. As I looked up I saw the angels go in five directions. I know they already have started their duties. For more than an hour I could not move. I was wide-awake, trembling from time to time. I said, Lord, shall I leave Patmos now? He said, No, I brought you here for a purpose. I said,The message from the angels all over the world is not good news. It is judgment, punishment, destruction, devastation. What will people say about me? I've always been a preacher of love, peace and good news. The angel said, It is our message. You are the instrument, the channel. What a privilege that God has chosen you to give this message to the nations. I said, Lord, Thy will be done.To God be the glory.
What If Earth's Magnetic Poles Flip?
by Natalie Wolchover | February 10, 2012 03:49pm ET
If Earth's magnetic field reversed, compasses would point toward Antarctica.Credit: Francesco81 | Shutterstock |
could come in any number of ways, depending on who you ask. Some people
believe global cataclysm will occur when Earth's magnetic poles
reverse. When north goes south, they say, the continents will lurch in
one direction or the other, triggering massive earthquakes, rapid
climate change and species extinctions.The geologic record shows that hundreds of pole reversals have occurred throughout Earth's history; they happen when patches of iron atoms in Earth's liquid outer core become reverse-aligned, like tiny magnets oriented in the opposite direction from those around them. When the reversed patches grow to the point that they dominate the rest of the core, Earth's overall magnetic field flips. The last reversal happened 780,000 years ago during the Stone Age, and indeed there's evidence to suggest the planet may be in the early stages of a pole reversal right now.But should we really fear this event? What will actually happen when north-pointing compasses make a 180-degree turn toward Antarctica? Will the continents tear themselves apart, or are we in store for much more mundane changes?
"The most dramatic changes that occur when the poles reverse is a very large decrease of the total field intensity," said Jean-Pierre Valet, who conducts research on geomagnetic reversals at the Institute of Earth Physics of Paris. [5 Ways the World Will Change Dramatically this Century]
Earth's magnetic field takes between 1,000 and 10,000 years to reverse, and in the process, it greatly diminishes before it re-aligns. "It's not a sudden flip, but a slow process, during which the field strength becomes weak, very probably the field becomes more complex and might show more than two poles for a while, and then builds up in strength and [aligns] in the opposite direction," said Monika Korte, the scientific director of the Niemegk Geomagnetic Observatory at GFZ Potsdam in Germany.
Supercomputer models of Earth's magnetic field. On
the left is a normal dipolar magnetic field. On the right is the sort of
complicated magnetic field Earth has leading up to a reversal.Credit: NASA
The scientists say it's the weak in-between phase that would be roughest on Earthlings.
According to John Tarduno, professor
of geophysics at the University of Rochester, a strong magnetic field
helps protect Earth from blasts of radiation from the sun. "Coronal mass
ejections (CMEs) occasionally occur on the Sun, and sometimes hurtle
directly toward Earth," Tarduno said. "Some of the particles associated
with CMEs can be blocked by Earth's magnetic field. With a weak field,
this shielding is less efficient."The charged particles bombarding Earth's atmosphere during solar storms
would punch holes in Earth's atmosphere, and this could hurt humans.
"Ozone holes, like that over Antarctica (which today are due to an
entirely different cause related to man) could form as solar particles
interact with the atmosphere in a cascade of chemical reactions. These
'holes' would not be permanent, but might be present on one- to 10-year
timescales — arguably important enough to be a concern in terms of skin
cancer rates," Tarduno said. [Will Sunscreen Protect You from the Upcoming Solar Flares?] Valet agrees that a weak magnetic field could lead to the formation of
ozone holes. He wrote a paper last year proposing a direct link between
the demise of Neanderthals,
our evolutionary cousins, and a significant decrease of the geomagnetic
field intensity that occurred exactly at the same period. (That time,
the lead-up to a geomagnetic reversal appears to have been "aborted";
the field weakened but didn't end up flipping.)Other scientists aren't convinced that there's a connection between pole reversals and species extinctions. "Even if the field becomes very weak, at the Earth's surface we are shielded from radiation by the atmosphere. Similarly as we cannot see or feel the presence of the geomagnetic field now, we most likely would not notice any significant change from a reversal," Korte said.Our technology
definitely would be in danger, however. Even now, solar storms can damage satellites, cause power outages and interrupt radio communications.
"These kinds of negative influences clearly will increase if the
magnetic field and thus its shielding function became significantly
weaker, e.g. during a reversal, and it will be important to find
mitigation strategies," she told Life's Little Mysteries.One additional worry is that a weakening and eventual reversal in the
field would disorient all those species that rely on geomagnetism for
navigation, including bees, salmon, turtles, whales, bacteria and
pigeons. There is no scientific consensus on how those creatures would
cope.Continental shifts?
Many of the disaster scenarios associated with geomagnetic pole reversals in popular imagination are pure fantasy, the scientists said. There definitely won't be any break-up or shift of the continents.The first proof is the geologic record. When the last pole switch happened, "no worldwide shifting of continents or other planet-wide disasters occurred, as geoscientists can testify to from fossil and other records," said Alan Thompson, head of geomagnetism at the British Geological Survey.The scientists explained that changes in the Earth's liquid core happen on a completely different distance and timescale than convection in the Earth's mantle (which causes Earth's tectonic plates to shift, moving the continents). The liquid core does indeed touch the bottom of the mantle, but it would take tens of millions of years for changes in the core to propagate up through the mantle and influence the motion of the tectonic plates. In short, "there is no evidence from the geological past and in my opinion also no conceivable method that magnetic reversals couldtrigger Earthquakes," Korte said.
Sooner or later
The geomagnetic field is currently weakening, possibly because of a growing patch of reverse-alignment in the liquid core deep beneath Brazil and the South Atlantic. According to Tarduno, the strength of Earth's magnetic field "has been decreasing for at least 160 years at an alarming rate
, leading some to speculate that we are heading toward a reversal."
Image of the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA), the
region where Earth's magnetic field is weakest, taken by the ROSAT
satellite in the 1990s.Credit: NASA
