| − | The magnetic field of [[Earth]] is directional nearly north-to-south, although slightly askance, meaning that "magnetic north" is not the same as "true north," and a person who is orienteering must take into account this change of declination, although it is truly only marginally relevant, unless you are close to either pole.<ref>Boy Scout Handbook.</ref> This field has been decaying, in the time period that measurements have been made, at a rate of about about 5% per century.<ref>K.L. McDonald and R.H. Gunst, 'An analysis of the earth’s magnetic field from 1835 to 1965,’ ESSA Technical Report, IER 46-IES 1, U.S. Govt. Printing Office, Washington, 1967</ref> This decay suggests that, at some point, the poles will invert. In fact, geological evidence indicates that the magnetic field has reversed many times in the Earth's history. While the fluctuations are not uniform, reversals seem to take place about every 200,000 years, though the last reversal was about 780,000 years ago.<ref>[https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/09/earths-magnetic-field-is-fading/ https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/09/earths-magnetic-field-is-fading/]</ref> | + | The magnetic field of [[Earth]] is directional nearly north-to-south, although slightly askance, meaning that "magnetic north" is not the same as "true north," and a person who is orienteering must take into account this change of declination, although it is truly only marginally relevant, unless you are close to either pole.<ref>Boy Scout Handbook.</ref> This field has been decaying, in the time period that measurements have been made, at a rate of about about 5% per century.<ref>K.L. McDonald and R.H. Gunst, 'An analysis of the earth’s magnetic field from 1835 to 1965,’ ESSA Technical Report, IER 46-IES 1, U.S. Govt. Printing Office, Washington, 1967</ref> This decay suggests that, at some point, the poles will invert. In fact, geological evidence indicates that the magnetic field has reversed many times in the Earth's history. While the fluctuations are not uniform, reversals seem to take place about every 200,000 years, though the last reversal was about 780,000 years ago.<ref>[https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/09/earths-magnetic-field-is-fading/ https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/09/earths-magnetic-field-is-fading/]</ref> The strength of the earth's magnetic field is according to the strength of the [[sun]]'s magnetic field.<ref>{{cite book|title=Air Con: The seriously Inconvenient Truth About Global Warming|page=93|year=2009|author=Ian Wishart|publisher=Howling At The Moon Publishing Ltd|isbn=978-0-9582401-4-7}}</ref> |