What would happen if our earth magnetic pole weakens? ?

Question

Mon Aug 18, 6:45 AM ET

"Something beneath the surface is changing Earth's protective magnetic field, which may leave satellites and other space assets vulnerable to high-energy radiation,"

"This represents the first time that researchers have been able to detect such rapid magnetic field changes taking place over just a few months."

Note: reversal takes thousands of years!

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20080818/sc_space/sloshinginsideearthchangesprotectivemagneticfield

Would knocking out satellites be the only worse case scenario if a reversal would occur? If not, what else may happen (you may determine the severeness of the matter as long as you explain.) thanks.

Answer 1

Knocked out satellites will be the first sign. Then the northern lights will become more "southern", meaning they will show in the night skies far away from the poles. Then allot of birds will die in winter, because they navigated to the magnetic field, which will not be possible anymore. Then the cosmic radiation will cause genetic mutation all over the world (i mean cancer an weird changes in minor form, not ninja-turtles or stuff). It won't kill alot at once, but man and beast will suffer.

Answer 2

The geologic record doesn't correlate mass extinctions to pole weakenings or reversals, so there's probably no major biological effects.  I would think the effect would be something like we get during strong coronal mass ejections, where it can disrupt satellite and radio transmissions, and in extreme cases damage electric lines and cause blackouts.

Answer 3

the magnetic field has been known to flip at least a few times in the earth's history

worse case i think is if the planet ends up like what they think happened to mars - the core cooled and magnetic field was faint, this let the sun's radiation deminish the atmosphere