Earth's Core, Magnetic Field Changing Fast, Study Says

Earth's Core, Magnetic Field Changing Fast, Study Says
National Geographic Society ^ | June 30, 2008 | Kimberly Johnson

Rapid changes in the churning movement of Earth's liquid outer core are weakening the magnetic field in some regions of the planet's surface, a new study says.

"What is so surprising is that rapid, almost sudden, changes take place in the Earth's magnetic field," said study co-author Nils Olsen, a geophysicist at the Danish National Space Center in Copenhagen.

The findings suggest similarly quick changes are simultaneously occurring in the liquid metal, 1,900 miles (3,000 kilometers) below the surface, he said.

The swirling flow of molten iron and nickel around Earth's solid center triggers an electrical current, which generates the planet's magnetic field.

The study, published recently in Nature Geoscience, modeled Earth's magnetic field using nine years of highly accurate satellite data.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.nationalgeographic.com ...

I am just a knuckle-dragging Bible-believer; however, don't I remember from Science 101 that the magnetic field of the earth protects the earth by creating a magnetic force field around the earth that harmful radiation? Is this loss or change in the magnetic field Boosh's fault? Or, SUVs? Could it cause or exacerbate Global Warming?

Armon Ayers wrote:

Rapid changes in the churning movement of Earth's liquid outer core are weakening the magnetic field in some regions of the planet's surface, a new study says.

"What is so surprising is that rapid, almost sudden, changes take place in the Earth's magnetic field," said study co-author Nils Olsen, a geophysicist at the Danish National Space Center in Copenhagen.

I am just a knuckle-dragging Bible-believer; however, don't I remember from Science 101 that the magnetic field of the earth protects the earth by creating a magnetic force field around the earth that harmful radiation? Is this loss or change in the magnetic field Boosh's fault? Or, SUVs? Could it cause or exacerbate Global Warming?

Well Armon, ...... I figured you was older than that, but anyway ........ .

Maybe those scientists are a little "slow on the draw" at figuring out the Earth's Magnetic Field has been changing fast.

I say that beecause a couple years +- or so ago I questioned iffen that wasa happening ...... and iffen I remember rightly I was assured by TRC, our expert bug n' insect authority, that that was not the problem and/or yada, yada, yada.

Wouldn't it be bout as funny as a fert in a spacesuit iffen my speculation was "right on the money"?

If so, after TerryRC recovered from his disorderly collapse upon hearing the news, ..... I just betcha he would deny I ever made such a speculation.



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Colony Collapse Disorder

Sam,

Why would that make the bees die?

I swear I don't know what you're getting at much of the time.

Stephanie wrote:Sam,

Why would that make the bees die?

I swear I don't know what you're getting at much of the time.

Steph, the Honey Bees have evolved a biological GPS system or should I say an HPS (Hive Positioning System) and when they leave the hive to go foraging for food they just wander all over hundreds of acres gathering food ...... and when they collect enough they make a "Bee Line" back to the hive.

Well "DUH", what if their "Bee Line" calculation is FUBAR?

Steph, they would be in the same boat as you would be in if you were 5 miles offshore RI in a rowboat and a heavy fog moved in and you couldn't see or hear shidt. And if you unknowingly started paddeling ESE ....... your hub's home just might suffer a "wifey collapse disorder".

Honey Bees don't have Rescue Squads that go looking for "lost Bees".

does dat splain it?

.

Well I'm sitting here not knowing much of anything at all about other creatures that have a built in "GPS" system. Bats use sonar, ants leave scent trails....but what about other kinds of bees & wasps etc. Don't they all gather in hives and are their hives collapsing?

What you say makes oodles of sense if this is impacting other species and not just honey bees. I really do admire the way you connected those dots.

SamCogar wrote:

Stephanie wrote:Sam,

Why would that make the bees die?

I swear I don't know what you're getting at much of the time.

Steph, the Honey Bees have evolved a biological GPS system or should I say an HPS (Hive Positioning System) and when they leave the hive to go foraging for food they just wander all over hundreds of acres gathering food ...... and when they collect enough they make a "Bee Line" back to the hive.

Well "DUH", what if their "Bee Line" calculation is FUBAR?

Steph, they would be in the same boat as you would be in if you were 5 miles offshore RI in a rowboat and a heavy fog moved in and you couldn't see or hear shidt. And if you unknowingly started paddeling ESE ....... your hub's home just might suffer a "wifey collapse disorder".

Honey Bees don't have Rescue Squads that go looking for "lost Bees".

does dat splain it?

.

The buzz is that there mite bee another cause for the bee's demise--but that's none of my bees-wax.

Stephanie wrote:Well I'm sitting here not knowing much of anything at all about other creatures that have a built in "GPS" system. Bats use sonar, ants leave scent trails....but what about other kinds of bees & wasps etc. Don't they all gather in hives and are their hives collapsing?

What you say makes oodles of sense if this is impacting other species and not just honey bees. I really do admire the way you connected those dots.

Steph, of the thousands of bee species the European Honey Bee (the common one in the US), the Killer Honey Bee (import from Africa), the black n' white Hornet, the Yellow Jacket and the large and the small Bumblebee are the common ones that build hives of many dozens to many hundreds of individuals.

Waspers build nests of 3 to 5 egg chambers up to 20 or 30+ which would be a big one. But most of the bees are solitary and build individual egg nests.

Now the Honey Bees are the only one that I know that lives in and "winters over" in their hive. The black n' white Hornet lives in their Hornet's Nest during the summer but they abandon it in the fall. Not sure about the two Bumblebees.

Anyway, the Honey Bees and their hives is the only one we keep close watch on.

And what the Beekeepers mean by "Colony Collapse" is that the population of Bees in a hive just dwindles down to so few bees that the hive is unable to sustain itself, ...... it collapses.

And they can't find any dead bees around the hive so apparently the bees take off in search of pollen ...... and just never come back.

If something was killing the bees like a virus, mites or insecticide, ....... surely they would find dead ones within a few feet or yards of the hives, ...... wouldn'tja think.

.

And ps: Steph, migrating birds have a built in GPS that keep them on track day or night, ...... in fog, rain, snowstorms, .... doesn't matter. It is believed they have a small speck of magnetite in their brain which they use as a compass.

And the Salmon return to the place of their birth supposedly by the impurities in the water that are characteristic of only that river/stream they were hatched in.

They will not migrate back up any other stream.

Sam,

I understand about the honey bee hive collapse. I know the bees aren't returning etc. What I'm not clear on is why this problem is found only with honey bees if it is due to the magnetic field change. Shouldn't other species be showing similar problems?

Animals are so amazing. I have a very poor sense of direction so it is facinating to me how so many just "know" where to go. For example, those turtles that hatch on a beaches and make a mad dash for the water and "know" where to go to mate etc without ever having been there before.

Stephanie wrote:Sam,

I understand about the honey bee hive collapse. I know the bees aren't returning etc. What I'm not clear on is why this problem is found only with honey bees if it is due to the magnetic field change. Shouldn't other species be showing similar problems?

Steph, ..... no one ... is keeping close check on the other species.

As a matter of fact, ..... they do everything possible to avoid them ...... and even make a dedicated attempt on their own to effect a "colony collapse" of a nest or hive whenever they find one too close to their own proximity.

Now if you found a Yellow Jackets's nest close to or in your house ...... I'm sure that your Hub would effect a "colony collapse" of it just as soon as it got dark.

Hornets and Yellow Jackets may not have evolved the sophisticated HPS that Honey Bees have so the magnetic field change may not affect them. And Honey Bees are unique in that they communicate “direction and distance” of a prime feeding area to the other bees in the hive. Which begs the questions, did said bee give the correct “direction and distance” or did the other bees get the “direction and distance” wrong?

And Steph, solitary bees do not need an elaborate HPS or NPS because they build an egg chamber, lay an egg, some put food in with the egg, close it up and forget it. And go looking for another place to build another egg chamber. And they do that in a matter of hours, …. not days or weeks.

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Well now that Loyd is becoming a better reader I'm sure to learn all about these solitary bees. That kid loves bugs and has reverted to saying he wants to be an entomologist when he grows up.

I thought all bees had a queen that lived in a hive. We'll get more detailed as the months and years roll by if his interest holds up.

Stephanie wrote:
I thought all bees had a queen that lived in a hive. We'll get more detailed as the months and years roll by if his interest holds up.

Steph, if you live in WV very long I am sure you will encounter a problem with one of those "boring bees" or the Mud Mason expecially.

A Mud Mason seems to like searching out one's lawnmower or weedeater ...... and plugging up the air intake with a "nest of mud" ........ and when you attempt to "start er up", ......... forget it, ...... it ain't gonna happen until you clean it out.

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I'm still plugging along with the reel mower. I do have an electric weedeater though.

I'm seriously considering getting a goat! lol

My husband will not cut the grass because I purchased that thing so after over two weeks of not being cut I'm now doing a little bit each day. I think in a few more days I'll have the entire thing done but the next I'll be right back pushing the damn thing again.

It only works well if you really keep up with it.