Magnetic Pole Reversal

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Spence

Spence

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Sep 29, 2013
57
Sloop Halman 20 Marina
"Sun's Magnetic Field to Flip Soon"
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/suns-magnetic-field-flip-soon-video-204838961.html

Seeing all the new gadgets out there that are used for navigation, I was wondering how many have abandoned sextants or chronometers, and basic celestial navigation.

Watching on TV a proud captain taking the viewers on a tour of the chart room of his 45ft yacht, there must have been thousands of dollars wrapped up in electronics, and a good many of them themselves dependant on some other technology not failing.

No one knows how sudden pole reversal will occur, or the more merciful speed of the "continent walk" will pick up pace, so I decided to take some sextant courses this spring, and chart reading courses.

Do you think this is a great concern?
 
M

Marty A

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Apr 18, 2007
53
Jeanneau Sun Oddysey 40.3 Chicago, IL, USA
Spence said:
"Sun's Magnetic Field to Flip Soon"
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/suns-magnetic-field-flip-soon-video-204838961.html ... Do you think this is a great concern?
Click to expand
First, the link is discussing the SUNs magnetic field which flips roughly every 11 years. So ask yourself if your electronic toys had issues 11 years ago (yes, we had GPS and cell phones then).

More in line with your fears, the Earths magnetic field is in the process of flipping (for example, the South Atlantic has a 'north pole' growing in it). For more information wikipedia is your friend.

And will it kill you or make you get lost? Probably not since you'll almost certainly be dead from natural causes before it changes very much more.
 
Spence

Spence

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Sep 29, 2013
57
Sloop Halman 20 Marina
Marty A said:
First, the link is discussing the SUNs magnetic field which flips roughly every 11 years. So ask yourself if your electronic toys had issues 11 years ago (yes, we had GPS and cell phones then).

More in line with your fears, the Earths magnetic field is in the process of flipping (for example, the South Atlantic has a 'north pole' growing in it). For more information wikipedia is your friend.

And will it kill you or make you get lost? Probably not since you'll almost certainly be dead from natural causes before it changes very much more.
Click to expand
The GPS satellites will be fried due to gamma ray bombardment, and this system is very sensitive. Compasses will be out of wack for some time maybe years or as some scientists believe as long as a decade. The phase reversal will cause the earth's field filter system to diminish for some time. This transition period will allow for irradiation of the planet. I guess I'm not such an optimist.

Good time to start a business making lead coated biminis and dodgers. :D
 
Joe

Joe

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Jun 1, 2004
8,321
Catalina 27 Mission Bay, San Diego
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. (the Serenity prayer)


Or ....As old time LA Dodger center fielder Willie Davis once said, when asked how he handled pressure: "If it ain't my wife, or my life.......... why worry?"

I don't recall the previous magnetic pole shift eleven years ago including any catastrophic electronics blackout....

But, you are right about one thing.... you are one depressing dude.
 
Ralph Johnstone

Ralph Johnstone

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Jan 4, 2006
7,649
Hunter 310 West Vancouver, B.C.
I'd be far more concerned about the sun ultimately going nova.

And we're told this could happen as early as three billion years from now :eek:.
 
M

mitiempo

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Sep 28, 2008
922
Canadian Sailcraft CS27 Victoria B.C.
Spence said:
"Sun's Magnetic Field to Flip Soon"
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/suns-magnetic-field-flip-soon-video-204838961.html

Seeing all the new gadgets out there that are used for navigation, I was wondering how many have abandoned sextants or chronometers, and basic celestial navigation.

Watching on TV a proud captain taking the viewers on a tour of the chart room of his 45ft yacht, there must have been thousands of dollars wrapped up in electronics, and a good many of them themselves dependant on some other technology not failing.

No one knows how sudden pole reversal will occur, or the more merciful speed of the "continent walk" will pick up pace, so I decided to take some sextant courses this spring, and chart reading courses.

Do you think this is a great concern?
Click to expand
I agree with the others - it's a non issue. But I would learn how to read a chart, to my mind that is essential before gps shopping. Everybody cruising should know the basics. All it takes is a loss of the boat's electrical power or a bad gps or its internal batteries failing to force the issue.
 
A

alexco38

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Sep 25, 2008
1,096
CS 30 Toronto
Another reason to have independly operating battery powered handheld gadgets; like GPS, VHF, wind meters, compass etc.

If they all go crazy at the same time, have a stiff drink.
 
Caboteur

Caboteur

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Feb 21, 2010
362
Beneteau 31 016 St-Lawrence river
That too!

Hello!
Using a sextant is great fun and a good mental exercise...
Now since astro-navigation is closely related to time: a four second imprecision will result in a one mile error (at the equator). How will all our quartz and battery-fed watches react to this protracted change in nature? Should you resort to a spring-wound watch? Will you really keep a time journal to monitor your watch's "error"? Even once all this is under perfect control a precision of better than 10 miles is utopic on a small vessel affected by the wave action...
I'll keep my sextant and use it for the mental exercise... not using reduction calculators or other electricity-fed components, but mostly for the mental exercise and the pleasure it brings me.
I'll also keep two GPS units (redundancy) fed by separate electrical systems, however most of the time a paper chart and visual triangulation do the better job!
Pierre
 
Spence

Spence

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Sep 29, 2013
57
Sloop Halman 20 Marina
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference, .......... and keep me alert to your warnings in order to prepare.
 
Spence

Spence

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Sep 29, 2013
57
Sloop Halman 20 Marina
is discussing the SUNs magnetic field which flips roughly every 11 years.

Are you sure?

Why is the scientific community in a panic taking mud samples from lake bottoms to discover what happened in the polar flip 200,000 years ago?.

I think you mean solar flares that knocked out hydro grid in eastern N america.
 
jimmcgee

jimmcgee

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Feb 26, 2008
603
Catalina 30 Marathon, FL
The article you linked to talks about the poles swapping on the sun which is a normal occurance on a three year cycle.

You're talking about the poles swapping on the earth which last happened several hundred thousand years ago.

You have a better chance of being eaten by a t-rex than needing to learn how to navigate with a sextant because of a drastic change in the earth's magnetic field.
 
J

JohnS

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Sep 25, 2008
177
Islander (Wayfarer/McGlasson) 32 St Georges Harbor
Also, the article you linked to states near the bottom "The polarity reversal probably won't harmfully impact Earth…" and provides a link to a space.com article which (more accurately) describes the likely effects of the reversal. Did you read that far?
 
Joe

Joe

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Jun 1, 2004
8,321
Catalina 27 Mission Bay, San Diego
Spence said:
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference, .......... and keep me alert to your warnings in order to prepare.
Click to expand
prepare for what?
 
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