Scientists have known that the strength of the Earth's geomagnetic field is already weakening in the past couple hundred years. Now this new study confirms that the planet's north and south pole will not flip soon as the current magnetic field protecting the planet is stronger than ever.

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This new study reveals how Earth's geomagnetic field is decreasing rapidly however the effects are not long term yet as scientists believe that this field can even repair and build itself in the opposite direction any time.

This will not be the first time for the planet's magnetic poles to flip, as they already have many times in the planet's evolution and have the tendency to occur at random intervals. These flips however, are so random that it will not happen in about 40 million years and then there will be around 10 flips during a one million year span. 

To date, scientists cannot still predict exactly when will the poles flip and pinpoint this flipping period, but the average period tends to be every few hundred thousand years. Right now, Earth has not experienced one in 780,000 years which led to theories that this flip can occur anytime now.   

Scientists are now trying to predict this polarity switch and when the intensity of the geomagnetic field is below its historical and long term average, there might be an impending swap soon. However, this new study is suggesting that Earth is not yet at this point, and this will not be happening any time soon, for the next 1,000 years.  

According to lead author of the study Huapei Wang from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) along with researchers from Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, they noted how important it is to know Earth's current magnetic field, if it's a long term average one or above long term average. Even if the field is dropping, there is still a long buffer that can be comfortably relied on.

Researchers arrived at this conclusion from analysis of ancient rocks that were erupted from volcanoes located on the Galapagos Islands. Since the islands are located exactly on equator, this is a good measuring point of the Earth's magnetic poles as they are halfway from the poles.

As the lava cools, the iron in these minerals can serve as tiny magnets that can align with the planet's magnetic field. Scientists have examined and analyzed these rocks to determine the direction and strength of the fields as the lava cools.

Scientists have discovered that the average intensity of the Earth's magnetic field in the past 5 million years is now 60 percent of the intensity of the field today. This new study about Earth's magnetic fields is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.  

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