magnetic fields & magnetism Archives - Page 11 of 33

Map centered on the North Pole plotting archived data from multiple sources.

American Legacy Paleosecular Variation Data Unlocked

by Mark J. Dekkers 3 December 202120 December 2021

The geomagnetic field changes regionally on centennial time scales. A recent study unlocks three historical archives from the “Four Corners” region (southwest USA) reconciling previous discrepancies.

Wearing a white lab coat, Yiming Zhang, a doctoral student at the University of California, Berkeley, sits in front of a computer screen, examining data, with a mouse in his right hand. To his left, a gray microscope with four copper-colored rings encircling the stage perches on a black table.

News

Diamonds Are a Paleomagnetist’s Best Friend

by Alka Tripathy-Lang 19 October 202114 March 2023

Typical paleomagnetic measurements average a sample’s signal. The quantum diamond microscope helps scientists make micrometer-scale maps of magnetism, showing where a sample locked in its magnetic signatures.

Plot showing a compilation the virtual dipole moment of the geomagnetic field during the Ediacaran and Cambrian periods.

Editors' Highlights

A Dipole Field from the Ediacaran-Cambrian Transition Onward?

by Mark J. Dekkers 14 October 202114 March 2023

The Ediacaran features an instable magnetic field complicating paleogeographic reconstructions; a new paleointensity study on late Ediacaran rocks indicates a weak but stable dipolar field.

Aerial view of the archaeological dig at Wadi Fidan, Jordan

News

Ancient Flint Tools Reveal Earth’s Changing Magnetic Field

by Hannah Thomasy 27 September 202129 March 2023

Stone tools may provide data on paleomagnetism that are out of reach for other markers, such as prehistoric pottery.

Artist rendering of magnetic reconnection taking place in the Earth's magnetosphere

Editors' Vox

Hidden Atmospheric Particles Sculpt Near-Earth Space Environment

by S. Toledo, M. André, N. Aunai, C.R. Chappell, J. Dargent, S.A. Fuselier, A. Glocer, D.B. Graham, S. Haaland, M. Hesse, L.M. Kistler, B. Lavraud, W. Li, T. E. Moore, P. Tenfjord and S.K. Vines 22 September 202118 July 2023

Charged particles escape our atmosphere following Earth’s magnetic field and constitute a main source of matter that modulates Sun-Earth interactions.

Magnetic field strengths as a function of distance from the Sun for several meteorite samples

Editors' Highlights

Magnetic Record of Early Nebular Dynamics

by F. Nimmo 17 August 202110 January 2023

Magnetized particles in a meteorite suggest strong magnetic fields in the early solar nebula.

Data cube acquired via a remote imaging spectrometer, with two spatial dimensions and one spectral dimension

Opinions

Realizing Machine Learning’s Promise in Geoscience Remote Sensing

by D. Thompson and P. G. Brodrick 8 July 20215 October 2021

Machine learning and signal processing methods offer significant benefits to the geosciences, but realizing this potential will require closer engagement among different research communities.

Seventeenth century Reinier Nooms painting of ships

News

Scientists Mine 16th Century Ship Logs for Geophysical Research

by Jenessa Duncombe 17 May 20214 October 2021

Compass measurements held a key to unlocking the mystery of Earth’s magnetic field and its changes over time. A historian-turned-geoscientist found the measurements in an unlikely place—merchant ship logs.