Climate change will remove Earth’s magnetic shield
Wow – this is a head scratcher, but one that makes absolute sense to me (no idea why!)
Gregory Ryskin, associate professor of chemical and biological engineering at Northwestern University in Illinois, has conducted research that…
…suggests that Earth’s magnetism is actually linked to ocean movements. The salt in seawater allows it to conduct electricity, meaning it generates electrical and magnetic fields as it moves.
Sounds like a load of bunkum until you read stuff like this:
It suggests that the movements of such volumes of salt water around the world have been seriously underestimated by scientists as a source of magnetism.
But I think that the article in the Sunday Times this week from which these excerpts are taken misses the point. Surely it is more of a worry that if the depletion of Earth’s magnetic field leaves us more open to bombardment from solar flares that there will be more of a real danger that we could lose all information stored on magnetic devices.
Ok, OK I know the ecosystem and life itself is more of a concern, but such is our reliance on electronic technological based storage and systems that anarchy would probably kill us all long before a breakdown in the food chain would.
Food for thought!
Filed under: change
