Overview
- Researchers reconstructed a large-scale reversal in liquid outer-core flow beneath the equatorial Pacific that began around 2010 using magnetic data through 2025.
- The analysis combined decades of ground and satellite magnetometer records from CHAMP, Ørsted, CryoSat and ESA’s Swarm and was published in May 2026 in the Journal of Studies of Earth's Deep Interior.
- Models show the eastward anomaly strengthened after the 2010 flip and has been weakening since about 2020 according to the team’s reconstructions.
- Authors link the event to deeper-core signals such as seismic changes and later geomagnetic jerks, but they say more observations and modeling are needed to decide whether the reversal was brief, cyclical, or a new steady state.
- While there is no immediate threat to people or climate, shifts in core flow change the magnetic field that shields Earth and can affect navigation, spacecraft operations and space-weather forecasting, so continued monitoring is essential.