The world can be a pretty unforgiving place, and as we see our planet constantly change and evolve, news comes to the fore that can sound a little… scary.
According to scientists with The European Space Agency (ESA) Earth’s magnetic field is weakening in some areas. This is worrying as it protects humans from the Sun’s charged particles and cosmic radiation.
The weakened area lies between Africa and South America. This field forms the Earth’s magnetosphere and spans thousands of kilometres into space.
The ESA says the field has lost around 9% of its strength across the planet over the last 200 years. This anomaly is also causing technical disturbances in satellites orbiting Earth.
The minimum field strength of this geomagnetic field in the area between Africa and South America has dropped from 24,000 nanoteslas to 22,000 nanoteslas between 1970 to 2020. Scientists are worried about what this could indicate.
So apart from everything else, humans might also be headed straight for a cosmic radiation fry up. Cool!