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ScienceQuiet 3d · day 6

ScienceAlert revives ESA's sonification of Earth's 41,000-year-old magnetic flip

A viral audio reconstruction of the Laschamps excursion turns ancient magnetic chaos into an unsettling soundscape.

newest coverage 2d agosummary written 2d ago4 pieces1 likes & upvotes MastodonNewswires

What to know

  • The sound is a reconstruction of the Laschamps excursion, a geomagnetic reversal roughly 41,000 years ago, made from Swarm satellite data plus rock and sediment records.
  • During the ~250-year reversal, the field briefly fell to between 0 and 6 percent of normal strength and never fully recovered, settling near a quarter of today's strength.
  • The story links the ancient event to present-day phenomena: the drifting magnetic north pole and the expanding South Atlantic Anomaly, though researchers say current weakening is not necessarily a sign of an imminent new reversal.
  • Coverage of this piece has generated essentially no public discussion or comments across the tracked posts.

“The South Atlantic Anomaly is not just a single block. It's changing differently towards Africa than it is near South America. There's something special happening in this region that is causing the field to weaken in a more intense way.”

Chris Finlay, Professor of geomagnetism, Technical University of Denmark · ScienceAlert ↗ · Sep 17

Chris Turney Earth scientistChris Finlay Professor of geomagnetism, Technical University of DenmarkEuropean Space Agency (ESA) Operator of the Swarm satellite missionFiona MacDonald ScienceAlert writer

ScienceAlert revives ESA's sonification of Earth's 41,000-year-old magnetic flip
ScienceAlert

How it unfolded 2 developments, newest first · click a bar or a number to jump articlesposts

Peak 2 pieces in two hours at Sep 18, 6 AM; 4 pieces over 6 days (1 article · 3 posts) Sep 18, 6 AM — 2 pieces · 1 article · 1 post — Mastodon 1, Newswires 1Sep 18, 8 AM — quietSep 18, 10 AM — quietSep 18, 12 PM — quietSep 18, 2 PM — quietSep 18, 4 PM — quietSep 18, 6 PM — quietSep 18, 8 PM — quietSep 18, 10 PM — quietSep 19, 12 AM — quietSep 19, 2 AM — quietSep 19, 4 AM — quietSep 19, 6 AM — quietSep 19, 8 AM — quietSep 19, 10 AM — quietSep 19, 12 PM — quietSep 19, 2 PM — quietSep 19, 4 PM — quietSep 19, 6 PM — quietSep 19, 8 PM — quietSep 19, 10 PM — quietSep 20, 12 AM — quietSep 20, 2 AM — quietSep 20, 4 AM — quietSep 20, 6 AM — quietSep 20, 8 AM — quietSep 20, 10 AM — quietSep 20, 12 PM — quietSep 20, 2 PM — quietSep 20, 4 PM — quietSep 20, 6 PM — 1 piece · 1 post — Mastodon 1Sep 20, 8 PM — quietSep 20, 10 PM — quietSep 21, 12 AM — quietSep 21, 2 AM — 1 piece · 1 post — Mastodon 1Sep 21, 4 AM — quietSep 21, 6 AM — quietSep 21, 8 AM — quietSep 21, 10 AM — quietSep 21, 12 PM — quietSep 21, 2 PM — quietSep 21, 4 PM — quietSep 21, 6 PM — quietSep 21, 8 PM — quietSep 21, 10 PM — quietSep 22, 12 AM — quietSep 22, 2 AM — quietSep 22, 4 AM — quietSep 22, 6 AM — quietSep 22, 8 AM — quietSep 22, 10 AM — quietSep 22, 12 PM — quietSep 22, 2 PM — quietSep 22, 4 PM — quietSep 22, 6 PM — quietSep 22, 8 PM — quietSep 22, 10 PM — quietYesterday, 12 AM — quietYesterday, 2 AM — quietYesterday, 4 AM — quietYesterday, 6 AM — quietYesterday, 8 AM — quietYesterday, 10 AM — quietYesterday, 12 PM — quietYesterday, 2 PM — quietYesterday, 4 PM — quietYesterday, 6 PM — quietYesterday, 8 PM — quietYesterday, 10 PM — quiet 12
Sep 19Sep 20Sep 21Sep 22yesterdaynow · 12:58 AM ET
  1. 2

    Article recirculates via ScienceAlert's Flipboard and syndication channels

    The ScienceAlert piece is reposted on Flipboard and picked up by aggregator europesays.com, spreading the sonification story further without new reporting.

    • us@pubeurope.com

      https://www. europesays.com/us/1076139/ Earth’s Magnetic Field Flipping Heard as a Sound Is an Unnerving Horror : ScienceAlert # MSFTContent # Science # UnitedStates # UnitedStates # US

      us@pubeurope.comMastodon2d agoview on Mastodon ↗
  2. 2 days quiet
  3. 1

    ScienceAlert publishes piece on the magnetic-flip sound recording

    Fiona MacDonald's ScienceAlert article revisits the ESA sonification, explaining the Laschamps excursion's timeline, its link to beryllium-10 spikes, Australian megafauna extinction, and the ongoing drift of the magnetic north pole.

    “our cosmic radiation shield was totally gone…”
    — Chris Turney, Earth scientist · source
    1. 1 outlet Earth's Magnetic Field Flipping Heard as a Sound Is an Unnerving Horror

      first by ScienceAlert, 5d ago

  4. background

    Chris Finlay's team maps growth of the South Atlantic Anomaly — A 2025 study led by Chris Finlay of the Technical University of Denmark finds the South Atlantic Anomaly grew by an area nearly half the size of continental Europe between 2014 and 2025, weakening unevenly toward Africa versus South America.

  5. background

    ESA sonifies the Laschamps magnetic field reversal — Using Swarm satellite data and rock/sediment records, ESA and geoscientists turn the 41,000-year-old reversal into sound, layering creaking wood and colliding rock recordings to represent the field's convulsions.

  6. background

    Chris Turney dates the Laschamps excursion — Earth scientist Chris Turney publishes a paper dating the geomagnetic reversal event and describing the near-total loss of Earth's cosmic radiation shield during it.