Something Made Earth's Molten Core Reverse Direction In 2010 (sciencealert.com)
(Sunday May 31, 2026 @11:54PM (EditorDavid)
from the I-feel-the-earth-move-under-my-feet dept.)
- Reference: 0183507156
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/06/01/0147227/something-made-earths-molten-core-reverse-direction-in-2010
- Source link: https://www.sciencealert.com/something-made-earths-molten-core-reverse-direction-in-2010
[1] ScienceAlert reports :
> In the molten ocean of iron churning in Earth's outer core, a section deep beneath the Pacific Ocean suddenly reversed direction and started moving eastward against the planet's usual westward flow. This happened in 2010, according to satellite measurements of Earth's magnetic field, and scientists are still trying to figure out what caused it... [I]t seemed to have a large, wave-like structure — as though a chunk of molten core material suddenly thought better of where it wanted to go, surging in the other direction... This finding suggests that there are processes that can influence it strongly enough to alter its behavior in bulk — and that our planet's interior may be more dynamic and variable than we thought.
A [2]new analysis captures what we know so far — and "It's from the roiling, molten, conducting metal at Earth's heart that the planetary magnetic field is generated... vital to our continued existence. It helps keep the atmosphere we breathe in and [3]harmful cosmic radiation out ."
[1] https://www.sciencealert.com/something-made-earths-molten-core-reverse-direction-in-2010
[2] https://jsedi.episciences.org/articles/17268
[3] https://www.sciencealert.com/extreme-solar-blasts-and-a-weak-magnetic-field-are-a-deadly-combination-for-earth
> In the molten ocean of iron churning in Earth's outer core, a section deep beneath the Pacific Ocean suddenly reversed direction and started moving eastward against the planet's usual westward flow. This happened in 2010, according to satellite measurements of Earth's magnetic field, and scientists are still trying to figure out what caused it... [I]t seemed to have a large, wave-like structure — as though a chunk of molten core material suddenly thought better of where it wanted to go, surging in the other direction... This finding suggests that there are processes that can influence it strongly enough to alter its behavior in bulk — and that our planet's interior may be more dynamic and variable than we thought.
A [2]new analysis captures what we know so far — and "It's from the roiling, molten, conducting metal at Earth's heart that the planetary magnetic field is generated... vital to our continued existence. It helps keep the atmosphere we breathe in and [3]harmful cosmic radiation out ."
[1] https://www.sciencealert.com/something-made-earths-molten-core-reverse-direction-in-2010
[2] https://jsedi.episciences.org/articles/17268
[3] https://www.sciencealert.com/extreme-solar-blasts-and-a-weak-magnetic-field-are-a-deadly-combination-for-earth
It's alive! (Score:2)
by Tony Isaac ( 1301187 )
That's what we learned from Star Trek. Any time there is an unexplained phenomenon, it was alive and about to swallow everyone whole.
Tectonic activity (Score:2)
by DrMrLordX ( 559371 )
Was 2010 a particularly active year for earthquakes and/or volcanoes? There was an eruption in Iceland.
Re: (Score:2)
by OrangeTide ( 124937 )
Beats another holodeck episode.
The earth's rotation spec up (Score:2)
by jaa101 ( 627731 )
after 2016, when we had our last leap second. The next leap second might need to be negative. I wonder if that's related. I'm talking about the rotation of the crust, but conservation of angular momentum would suggest that a change in the core's would require an equal and opposite change in the rotation of some other part of the earth.
Re: (Score:2)
I bet it was global warming or climate change!