ESA’s Swarm constellation shows the magnetic field’s weak spot has expanded dramatically.
The weak spot in Earth’s magnetic field, a region over the South Atlantic where the field’s strength is significantly reduced compared to its surrounding area, has grown by an area nearly the size of the European continent over the past 11 years.
Using data from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Swarm satellites, scientists revealed that the South Atlantic Anomaly has gotten much larger since 2014. In a recent study published in Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors, the team of scientists links the development to strange patterns at the boundary between Earth’s liquid layer, which lies above the solid inner core, and its rocky mantle, the layer between the crust and the outer core.
“The South Atlantic Anomaly is not just a single block,” Chris Finlay, professor of geomagnetism at the Technical University of Denmark and lead author of the study, said in a statement. “There’s something special happening in this region that is causing the field to weaken in a more intense way.”That’s the spot
Earth’s magnetic field is essential to life on our planet.
