The Geomagnetic Shield of the Earth --- by J. Marvin Herndon, Ph.D. © 2003

“Energize the deflector shields!” is a command issued on the bridge of the starship Enterprise and other spaceships of modern science fiction. But while deflector shields for spacecraft are at present the stuff of science fiction, life on Earth would be quite different, if life could exist at all, without our own planet’s deflector shield.

The Earth is constantly being bombarded by a plasma of charged particles, called the solar wind. The solar wind, a fully ionized and electrically conducting plasma, heated to about 1 million degrees C., streams radially outward from the Sun, blowing past the Earth at about 1.5 million km/h. The geomagnetic field serves as the Earth’s deflector shield, deflecting the brunt of the solar wind before it reaches the Earth, shielding us from its onslaught, as illustrated in the figure below.

Occasionally, solar storms cause outbursts of solar wind of such an intensity as to effectively overwhelm our shield; the effects of that plasma bombardment prefigure what might happen when the geomagnetic field collapses. Even without considering the direct impacts upon life, solar wind and plasma storms can: (1)  induce electrical currents in the upper atmosphere and in ground-based electrical power grids, damaging equipment and causing power outages; (2) disrupt satellite and land-based communications; (3) short-circuit satellite electronics, (4) induce currents that corrode metal pipelines, and, (5) interfere with navigational systems on ships and aircraft.

Geophysicists have given little attention to the demise of the geomagnetic field, which, without doubt, will have catastrophic impacts upon humanity. The reason for such little attention stems from the extremely long-lived nature of the energy sources that have been assumed to power the geomagnetic field. But traditional ideas as to the energy source for the geomagnetic field are based upon assumptions rather than observations and can be traced to an assertion made in 1940 based upon an incomplete database of knowledge [see Herndon 2003] [open pdf file].

The results of Herndon (2003) point quite clearly to one fundamental distinction between traditionally assumed power sources for the geomagnetic field and nuclear fission. Actinide fuel will burn out, the georeactor will cease to operate, and the geomagnetic field, deprived of its energy source, will collapse, within an uncertain time frame, but within a time frame that is certainly considerably shorter than what might be expected from traditionally assumed power sources [see Helium-3 Evidence].  After the georeactor dies and after the geomagnetic field collapses, life on Earth will never be the same.