NASA investigates ‘signs the Earth is about to reverse’ in the Atlantic region

South Atlantic Anomaly (ASA) is a mysterious “bump” that can damage satellites and spacecraft, leading scientists to debate the hypothesis of a reversal of Earth’s magnetic poles.

According to Science Alert, SAA is still in development and requires active monitoring by NASA. It is a giant region with a weaker magnetic field strength than anywhere else in Earth’s magnetosphere, spanning a large area of ​​the South Atlantic Ocean from South America to southern Africa .

Magnetospheric “tooth” named “South Atlantic Anomaly”

Magnetospheric “tooth” named “South Atlantic Anomaly” – (Photo: GODDARD/NASA).

Magnetosphere which is the armor of the planet, helping to protect everything from the attack of cosmic rays. This SAA region located in the middle of the ocean does not have much effect on living organisms, but “harms” satellites and spacecraft, including the International Space Station (ISS).

Unprotected by a sufficiently thick magnetosphere, technological systems inside spacecraft and satellites can short-circuit and malfunction when attacked by cosmic rays such as the Sun’s high-energy protons.

Mitigating this risk is one reason NASA is keeping an eye on SAA. Additionally, they hope to be able to find answers around this complex and confusing phenomenon.

Geophysicist Terry Sabaka of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center explains: “The magnetic field is a superposition of fields from many current sources. The main source is an ocean of molten iron inside the Earth’s outer core. Its movement creates electrical currents, which in turn create a magnetic field for the Earth, but not necessarily identical.” .

A dense rocky reservoir located approximately 2,900 km from the African continent in this deep region is believed to significantly weaken the magnetic field in the area above.

According to geophysicist and mathematician Weijia Kuang, also of Goddard, SAA could also be a consequence of the dominance of “dipolar field”, in which a local field has the opposite polarity to the main field, resulting in a weakening of the overall magnetic field intensity.

In addition, numerous studies around the world in recent years have also linked the SAA to the fact that the magnetic North Pole “leaks” from Canada to Russian Siberia, moving up to 50 km each year. They believe this signals an imminent reversal of the magnetic poles – from the magnetic North Pole to the South Pole and vice versa – which has happened several times in the planet’s history.

However, many groups also reject the hypothesis “The Earth is about to turn upside down.” hey, assuming this is a recurring magnetic event that affected Earth 11 million years ago.

Clearly, many big questions surround this magnetic field anomaly, and scientists around the world are hoping that the attention of the world’s leading space agency will help uncover the mystery.

Article source: NLD