Magnetic field inversions and excursions

Fluctuations of the Earth's magnetic field

Earth’s magnetic field has its origin in the Geodynamo effect, a mechanism comprising a conductive fluid, bouyancy and convection forces, the rotation of the Earth, and the interaction with the magnetic field that it sustains and generates. Magnetohydrodynamics is complicated, too much complicated for me anyway! On the other hand, several stochastic models for the magnetic field have been developed in the past.

We are trying to contribute to the field (no pun intended) using Brownian models with a few key ingredients to explain some salient features of the magnetic field, as the temporal asymmetry observed during reversals or the preferred paths of the virtual magnetic pole during inversions.

This is my first publication related to the project, providing a mechanism for the observed asymmetry through a general thermodynamic argument.

  • Simple stochastic model for geomagnetic excursions and reversals reproduces the temporal asymmetry of the axial dipole moment

    Details PNAS 2021