The Climate, Environment and Energy Thread

[LP]

From my understanding its not a matter of IF they will reverse again, but when.

As for how that would effect us? AFAIK, it would essentially leave the world without power instantly.

I'm sure people are working on what to do when this happens, but i reckon we are all screwed when it does.

Not quite, it potentially leaves us without a protective magnetosphere for a period of time but our human built power generation won't be affected in anyway other than the possibility we are all irradiated and can't turn it on!

I think [member=78]spf[/member] might have been referring to the drift in the position of the North and South poles, which is far more likely to have an impact within the next few thousand years.

By the way, the flip and the drift are different events. The poles are always drifting, they never stop moving. The flip in effect is a collapse of the field, a bounce effect then and return to normal that takes about 20K to 30K years.