Northern lights are now shifting south of the Arctic as a result of the slow weakening of the Earth's magnetic field according to a new study.
As what researchers from Stanford University said, the northern lights also known as the Aurora Borealis will be visible more often in the skies of Ottawa not many years from now. Due to the world's gradual magnetic field degradation, the magnificent lights are now transferring to the southern part of the Arctic.
In a statement, Dennis Kent at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory explained the reason behind the shifting of the northern lights.
"The Earth's magnetic field more or less keeps the solar wind at bay, and it's the solar wind interacting with the field that contributes to the auroras. With a strong field, that interaction is pushed to high latitudes. With a weaker field more of the Earth is bathed in these charged particles. So a consequence would be that the aurora would be visible at lower latitudes," elaborated by the expert in paleo magnetism who is also the co-author of the study.
The scientists conducted the study by examining the changes of the Earth's volcanic rock. By investigating the behavior of the iron-bearing minerals as they align with the Earth's magnetic field, the strength of the Earth's magnetic field was determined. The magnetic fields were then compared as to when the rocks were originally formed, and its current power.
With the said observations, scientists estimated that the northern lights will shift to the southern area of the Arctic.
The research also uncovered a much dangerous speculation. According to Kent, the weakening of the magnetic field can cause the Earth to become unstable. With this, scientists said that the distortion of magnetic field can reverse and flip the planet's north and south poles.
The study is now published in a major research journal called the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
