<p>Having worked on this problem myself in my master's thesis, see our paper in geophysical journal international(GJI) at <a href="http://ceas.iisc.ernet.in/~bsreeni/gji14.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://ceas.iisc.ernet.in/~bsreeni/gji14.pdf</a> the likely timeframe of this event is about 1000 years as per our calculations. </p>

<p>For us humans this is definitely not instantaneous but for the timeframes relevant to earth's history, this is a very short amount of time. So, don't lose your sleep over it, it won't happen in your lifetime. </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-03T22:18:44.380Z
2017-08-03T22:18:44.380Z
Gaurav Dhama
<p>The magnetic north pole (and presumably the south pole) <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/12/1215_051215_north_pole.html" rel="noreferrer">currently moves around 40km/year</a>, although within a year it loops around, may travel much further than that forwards and backwards. Here is a map of the movement from the past century and a half (<a href="http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/geophysics/question782.htm" rel="noreferrer">source</a>)
:</p>

<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/Qjlzn.jpg" alt="Movement of the pole over the last 170 years"></p>

<p>However, during a magnetic reversal, the pole may move <a href="http://scitechdaily.com/magnetic-field-flip-occur-short-period-time/" rel="noreferrer">up to 10 times faster than that</a>, over a period of less than 100 years. Here's a map showing the relative movements (the numbers are thousands of years ago (kya)) (<a href="http://scitechdaily.com/magnetic-field-flip-occur-short-period-time/" rel="noreferrer">source</a>)</p>

<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/hPhKV.jpg" alt="Magnetic field reversal 786kya">]</p>

<p>The reason for reversals aren't very well understood (according to the previous link), and I'm in no way an expert in the field, but just for some fun speculation, I would wonder whether reversals might be related to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n-HMSCDYtM" rel="noreferrer">this phenomenon</a>. Obviously a liquid outer core is going to operate differently from a screwdriver, but the two systems both appear to be exhibiting a bistable rotation while floating in space.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-10-08T13:26:00.073Z
Nice self-contained answer! Only thing I might add are links to the [NOAA web pages](https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/geomag/declination.shtml) where magnetic declination data is published every 5 years.  There are also example programs which convert this (compressed) data to the local declination given latitude and longitude.
st2000
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-02-11T00:14:49.660Z
2016-02-11T00:14:49.660Z
naught101
<p>Magnetic field exist because of the hot liquid in the external core of Earth moves, that movement of charged particles produces the magnetism.
Therefore, the magnetic field can't change at once, it only can change slowly with variations of these inner flows.</p>

<p>I "suppose" that earthquakes might produce small changes in the magnetic field, because seismic waves travel through the Earth core and mantle.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-02-10T20:07:31.127Z
2016-02-10T20:07:31.127Z
Santiago
<p>Today the Earth's magnetic field is moving a little bit, but is there going to be a point where the field suddenly radically changes direction? If so, what will be the cause of that? If not, then is the field changing all the time gradually?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-02-02T12:09:10.280Z
I edited a "geomagnetism" tag to your question. Click it and you will find a bunch of questions and answers that should give you an answer.
Gimelist
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-02-03T03:41:05.310Z
While there's still some unknowns, the quick answer to your question is no.   The Magnetic field is not thought to suddenly "flip", it's a more gradual process and in the process it's thought to twist and tangle, not suddenly "flip", the process can take a century or more.   At the same time, and generally speaking, it does go through periods of change (100-1000 years or so) and longer periods of relative stability (80,000-800,000 years or so).
userLTK
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-02-03T15:23:55.733Z
@userLTK -- why not make this into a regular answer to the question?
Wolfgang Bangerth
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-02-04T02:28:11.160Z
@WolfgangBangerth I thought about that, but felt a regular answer should be a bit longer and better backed up and would require some more research on my part.   A comment was more the level I was comfortable with.
userLTK
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-02-04T08:33:24.117Z
But when it is always graduyally going than the results of the directions of magnetic pools of small metal particles burried in the earth shows all directions at the same level?
Marijn 
<geophysics><geomagnetism>
How probable is it that Earth's magnetic field will change 180 degrees at once?
Marijn 
# How probable is it that Earth's magnetic field will change 180 degrees at once?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-02-02)

Today the Earth's magnetic field is moving a little bit, but is there going to be a point where the field suddenly radically changes direction? If so, what will be the cause of that? If not, then is the field changing all the time gradually?

**Tags:** geophysics, geomagnetism

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I edited a "geomagnetism" tag to your question. Click it and you will find a bunch of questions and answers that should give you an answer.  
> **username_2**: While there's still some unknowns, the quick answer to your question is no.   The Magnetic field is not thought to suddenly "flip", it's a more gradual process and in the process it's thought to twist and tangle, not suddenly "flip", the process can take a century or more.   At the same time, and generally speaking, it does go through periods of change (100-1000 years or so) and longer periods of relative stability (80,000-800,000 years or so).  
> **username_3**: @username_2 -- why not make this into a regular answer to the question?  
> **username_2**: @username_3 I thought about that, but felt a regular answer should be a bit longer and better backed up and would require some more research on my part.   A comment was more the level I was comfortable with.  
> **username_0**: But when it is always graduyally going than the results of the directions of magnetic pools of small metal particles burried in the earth shows all directions at the same level?  

---

## 3 answers

### Answer by username_5 on 2016-02-11. Score: 5

The magnetic north pole (and presumably the south pole) [currently moves around 40km/year](http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/12/1215_051215_north_pole.html), although within a year it loops around, may travel much further than that forwards and backwards. Here is a map of the movement from the past century and a half ([source](http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/geophysics/question782.htm))
:

![Movement of the pole over the last 170 years](https://i.sstatic.net/Qjlzn.jpg)

However, during a magnetic reversal, the pole may move [up to 10 times faster than that](http://scitechdaily.com/magnetic-field-flip-occur-short-period-time/), over a period of less than 100 years. Here's a map showing the relative movements (the numbers are thousands of years ago (kya)) ([source](http://scitechdaily.com/magnetic-field-flip-occur-short-period-time/))

![Magnetic field reversal 786kya](https://i.sstatic.net/hPhKV.jpg)]

The reason for reversals aren't very well understood (according to the previous link), and I'm in no way an expert in the field, but just for some fun speculation, I would wonder whether reversals might be related to [this phenomenon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n-HMSCDYtM). Obviously a liquid outer core is going to operate differently from a screwdriver, but the two systems both appear to be exhibiting a bistable rotation while floating in space.

> **Comments:**
> **username_6**: Nice self-contained answer! Only thing I might add are links to the [NOAA web pages](https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/geomag/declination.shtml) where magnetic declination data is published every 5 years.  There are also example programs which convert this (compressed) data to the local declination given latitude and longitude.  

---

### Answer by username_4 on 2017-08-03. Score: 3

Having worked on this problem myself in my master's thesis, see our paper in geophysical journal international(GJI) at <http://ceas.iisc.ernet.in/~bsreeni/gji14.pdf> the likely timeframe of this event is about 1000 years as per our calculations.

For us humans this is definitely not instantaneous but for the timeframes relevant to earth's history, this is a very short amount of time. So, don't lose your sleep over it, it won't happen in your lifetime.


---

### Answer by username_7 on 2016-02-10. Score: -1

Magnetic field exist because of the hot liquid in the external core of Earth moves, that movement of charged particles produces the magnetism.
Therefore, the magnetic field can't change at once, it only can change slowly with variations of these inner flows.

I "suppose" that earthquakes might produce small changes in the magnetic field, because seismic waves travel through the Earth core and mantle.


---

