Scientists map Earth’s 41,000-year-old magnetic flip with sound technology

Some 41,000 years ago, the Earth’s magnetic field underwent a short-lived reversal.

During the Laschamp event, the protective shield that surrounds our planet weakened to a mere 5% of its current strength. This allowed a deluge of cosmic radiation to bombard Earth’s atmosphere.

Researchers from the Technical University of Denmark and the German Research Center for Geosciences decided to delve deeper into this mysterious event.

Using data from the European Space Agency (ESA)’s Swarm mission, they mapped the movement of Earth’s magnetic field lines during the Laschamp event.

They transformed the scientific data into something truly remarkable: a chilling sound, or a “sounded visualization” of the Laschamp event.

Alien-like soundscape

ESA’s Swarm constellation is helping scientists better understand the processes that generate Earth’s magnetic field.

The satellites can measure magnetic signals from a wide range of Earth’s layers, from the core to the outer reaches of the atmosphere.

This data is essential for understanding geomagnetic reversals and Earth’s internal processes.

Similar to how a composer brings a musical score to life, the data was used to create a soundscape.

As per the ESA release, they also added natural sounds, including the creaking of wood and the rolling of rocks.

The result is a haunting, almost alien-like soundscape that captures the essence of the Laschamp event.

“The sound of Earth’s magnetic field, the first version of the magnetic field sonification produced with Swarm data, was originally played through a 32-speaker system set up in a public square in Copenhagen, with each speaker representing changes in the magnetic field at different places around the world over the past 100,000 years,” the ESA release noted.

Widespread impact of the event

The magnetic field of Earth is born from the churning of its molten core.

These act as a protective shield, safeguarding life on Earth from the harmful effects of cosmic radiation. This is what makes life possible on Earth as compared to Mars and other planets.

If Earth’s magnetic field were not in place, high-energy particles could easily pass through the skin of humans and animals, leading to cellular damage and health issues.

It is possible that our ancestors experienced some effects of the Laschamp event. The magnetic poles temporarily changed positions and then returned back to their original orientation. The event likely lasted for about 400 years, but this is not definitively known.

Back then, the cosmic ray bombardment could have impacted the ozone layer, triggering a chain reaction of climate change globally. The auroras would have strayed from their usual high-latitude locations to near-equatorial latitudes during that time. Research indicates that the reversal of the poles could have led to mass extinction .

Scientists study this event using various techniques, such as radiocarbon dating of ancient tree rings. The ancient trees provide a means to measure and date the spike in atmospheric radiocarbon levels, indicating the timing of the Earth’s magnetic field collapse.

One example is a 2021 study that used ancient New Zealand kauri trees, preserved in sediments for over 40,000 years.