Expert: Dr Thomas Bell - 7/11/2009

Question
QUESTION: I was wondering if some places on earth have more magnetism than other places? Like kind of other poles besides the north and south, or maybe areas that have a lot of the types of materials that help make the earth poles work? And if so, maybe there is a map somewhere that shows the more magnetic areas?

ANSWER: James,

Our planet's magnetic field varies in intensity and direction everywhere on Earth and both of those values are constantly changing.  The magnetic field is driven by convection of molten iron in the outer core as it circulates around the solid iron inner core.  The size, shape, and distribution of these cells changes with time driving changes in the magnetic field.

Earth's magnetic field appears to be undergoing one of its regular changes in polarity where the south magnetic pole becomes the north magnetic pole.  After one of these magnetic reversals, a compass needle will point south instead of north.  No one is quite sure how long the interlude between this collapse of the field lasts but it could prove to be a serious natural disaster for our civilization.  The solar wind, a stream of charged particles given off by the sun, are safely diverted around Earth by our magnetic field, protecting us from the intense radioactive bombardment that could otherwise create problems for life on Earth.  There is no evidence that past collapses have had any effect on life on Earth and our atmosphere is thick enough to actively filter out an increase in radiation.  The impact on our communications networks could be another matter.  Disruptions due to solar flares are already a measurable problem and if the magnetic field collapses, we might expect to see even more problems.

You can see a map of Earth's magnetic field here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/629/629/7072715.stm

You can download a map layer of Earth's magnetic field to use with Google Earth here:

http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=922040&site_id=1#i

Get a free download of Google Earth here:

http://earth.google.com/

Here is an animated view of a computer model that simulates a polar reversal:

http://www.psc.edu/science/glatzmaier.html



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: My question wasn't so much about potential natural disasters as much as areas that have a lot of natural magnetism. Although I know this isn't your field someone told me that one area (basically a township) had a lot more magnetism than other places. That was a potential explaination as to why there were so many psychics and mediums living in that area (perhaps non-sense). Are there any phenomenas where some areas seem to be more magnetic? Yes we are talking about metal magnetisism.

Answer
James,

I encourage you to look at the sites I recommended.  It is obvious that the strength and polarity of Earth's magnetic field is different everywhere on the planet.  If you install Google Earth on your computer and load that KMZ file, you can clearly see how magnetic your part of the planet is versus others.

A little critical thought and common sense should be applied to the location of mediums, fortune tellers, and psychics.  I suspect they locate in neighborhoods where people are more likely to pay for their services rather than area of enhanced or depleted natural magnetism.  This is just an hypothesis.  You could test my hypothesis by visiting these businesses and ask them what the strength and polarity of the magnetic field at their place of business is.  If they have no idea, as Deep Throat told Woodward and Bernstein, "follow the money".