Earth's Magnetic Field is Changing, According to ESA Swarm Satellites

Is Earth's magnetic field changing? That might be the case, according to ESA's three-satellite Swarm constellation. Scientists have used these satellites to examine the complex workings of our planet's magnetic field, which safeguards us from the cosmic radiation and charged particles from space.

Swarm was first launched in November 2013. Now, it's providing scientists insights into the complex workings of Earth's magnetic field. In fact, measurements made over the past six months reveal a bit more about current changes that are occurring in Earth's magnetic field.

So what exactly is changing? It turns out that the field is weakening, with the most dramatic declines occurring over the Western Hemisphere. Yet in other areas, such as over the southern Indian Ocean, the field has actually strengthened since January. In addition, magnetic North is slowly moving toward Siberia.

"These initial results demonstrate the excellent performance of Swarm," said Run Floberghagen, one of the researchers, in a news release. "With unprecedented resolution, the data also exhibit Swarm's capability to map fine-scale features of the magnetic field."

The observations are based on the magnetic signals stemming from Earth's core. Over the next several months, scientists plan to analyze data in order to unravel the magnetic contributions from other sources, such as the mantle, crust, oceans, ionosphere and magnetosphere. This, in particular, will shed light on many natural processes, such as those occurring deep inside our planet, and will tell scientists why the magnetic field is weakening.

The findings are important for better understanding why Earth's magnetic field is changing. This particular feature of our planet is a huge part of how Earth deals with incoming space weather and even influences our environment. By better understanding the shifts in this field, the researchers can learn a bit more about our planet itself.

"I'm extremely happy to see that Swarm has materialized," said Kristian Pedersen, one of the researchers, in a news release.

The first results from swarm were presented at the "Third Swarm Science Meeting" in Cophenhagen, Denmark.