{"id":191880,"date":"2025-09-30T08:53:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T08:53:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/191880\/"},"modified":"2025-09-30T08:53:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T08:53:14","slug":"scientists-crack-the-billion-year-old-mystery-of-the-magnetic-field","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/191880\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists Crack the Billion-Year-Old Mystery of the Magnetic Field"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\"Earth\u2019s<\/a>A view of the Earth\u2019s interior around 1 billion years ago: Tangled magnetic field lines inside the core are linked with the Earth\u2019s exterior magnetic field. (Scientifically correct image from a research simulation). Credit: ETH Zurich \/ SUS Tech<\/p>\n

A new model uncovers how Earth\u2019s liquid core has sustained its magnetic field since the planet\u2019s beginnings, offering new insights into its future.<\/p>\n

Earth benefits from the presence of a magnetic field, which acts as a shield against harmful cosmic radiation and makes life possible. In contrast, planets like Mars are exposed to a constant barrage of charged particles that create a far more hostile environment.<\/p>\n

Scientists attribute Earth\u2019s magnetic field to what is known as the dynamo theory. According to this explanation, the slow cooling of the planet\u2019s liquid iron and nickel core drives powerful convection currents in the outer core. As Earth rotates, these flows are deflected, spiraling in screw-like patterns. The motion of the liquid metal generates electric currents, which in turn create magnetic fields, giving rise to most of Earth\u2019s protective magnetic shield.<\/p>\n

Yet this theory has a limitation. Before the inner core began to crystallize\u2014an event that occurred about 1 billion years ago\u2014the Earth\u2019s core was entirely liquid. This raises a critical question: could a magnetic field have existed during that earlier period?<\/p>\n

A recent study published in Nature offers an answer. In it, three geophysicists from ETH Zurich and SUSTech in China present new insights that shed light on this longstanding mystery.<\/p>\n

New model provides the answer<\/p>\n

As the Earth\u2019s interior and the processes taking place within it cannot be observed directly, geoscientists study this with the aid of computer models.<\/p>\n

The researchers developed a computer model of the Earth with which to simulate whether a completely liquid core could also generate a stable magnetic field. Their simulations were partially calculated on the Piz Daint high-performance computer at the CSCS in Lugano.<\/p>\n

In the simulations, the researchers demonstrate the correct physical regime in which the Earth\u2019s core viscosity has no influence on the dynamo effect. This means that the Earth\u2019s magnetic field was generated in the early history of the Earth in a similar way to today.<\/p>\n

The research team is the first to successfully minimize the influence of the Earth\u2019s core viscosity to a negligible value in a model. \u201cUntil now, no one has ever managed to perform such calculations under these correct physical conditions,\u201d says the study\u2019s lead author, Yufeng Lin.<\/p>\n

Understanding the history of the Earth\u2019s magnetic field<\/p>\n

\u201cThis finding helps us to better understand the history of the Earth\u2019s magnetic field and is useful in interpreting data from the geological past,\u201d says co-author Andy Jackson, Professor of Geophysics at ETH Zurich.<\/p>\n

This also places the emergence of life in a different light. Billions of years ago, life apparently benefited from the magnetic shield, which blocked harmful radiation from space, making its development possible in the first place.<\/p>\n

The researchers can also use the new findings to study the magnetic fields of other celestial bodies, such as the Sun or the planets Jupiter and Saturn.<\/p>\n

Indispensable for modern civilizations<\/p>\n

The Earth\u2019s magnetic field not only protects life, however; it plays a crucial role in making satellite communications and many other aspects of modern civilization possible. \u201cIt is therefore important to understand how the magnetic field is generated, how it changes over time, and what mechanisms maintain it,\u201d says Jackson. \u201cIf we understand how the magnetic field is generated, we can predict its future development.\u201d<\/p>\n

The magnetic field has changed its polarity thousands of times throughout the history of the Earth. In recent decades, researchers have also observed a rapid shift of the magnetic north pole toward the geographic north pole. It is essential for our civilization to understand how magnetism is changing on Earth.<\/p>\n

Reference: \u201cInvariance of dynamo action in an early-Earth model\u201d by Yufeng Lin, Philippe Marti and Andrew Jackson, 30 July 2025, Nature.
DOI: 10.1038\/s41586-025-09334-y<\/a><\/p>\n

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