I think Vukcevic will like this one:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/06/090622-earths-core-dynamo.html
The flow of seawater across Earth’s surface could be responsible for small fluctuations in the planet’s magnetic field, a controversial new study says.
If so, the research would challenge the widely accepted theory that Earth’s magnetic field is generated by a churning molten core, or dynamo, in the planet’s interior.
“If I am correct, then the dynamo theory is in bad shape, and all kinds of things about core dynamics also fall apart,” said study author Gregory Ryskin
“I strongly believe the new hypothesis is just nonsense,” said geophysicist Robert Parker of the University of California, San Diego.
Such reactions were not entirely unexpected.
“This article is controversial and will no doubt cause vigorous debate, and possibly strong opposition, from some parts of the geomagnetism community,” Tim Smith, senior publisher of the New Journal of Physics, which published Ryskin’s findings, said in a statement.
Tallbloke's Talkshop 
I don’t buy it…
How small is small?
Tides move large volumes of water around the tidal basins on a regular basis. Has anyone ever noticed corresponding magnetic effects from those?
A multitude of ocean currents are changing speed and direction all the time. Are there any associated magnetic variations?
“It’s true that if secular variation were caused by the ocean, it could be argued that we know nothing about what’s going on in the Earth’s core,” Love said.
I agree: Settled Science knows nothing about the core of the earth, plate tectonics… and just about everything else except: funding, networking, guessing, cherry picking, confirmation bias, fraud, pal review, propaganda and suppression.
Great to see another brick in the post-normal wall of settled science is beginning to crumble… perhaps this is part of the reality backlash in response to the CAGW settled science fiasco… either way: it is wonderful to observe some competing ideas seeing the light of day at long last… may the good theories flourish based upon their merits… as apposed to the Spanish Inquisition style of suppression practiced by post-normal scientists.
My personal hope is that the next settled science to crumble is Plate Tectonics… I don’t dispute that there are faults in the crust of the earth… they are everywhere in our 3D world… the faults are horizontal, vertical and all angles in-between… so we get slippage and earthquakes… but not Continental Drift… tectonic plates are about as mobile as a block of wood in a parquet floor… tectonic plates are more likely to sink, rise and topple.
Vuk has emailed a brief response:
“I think Ryskin is ‘overdoing’ it a bit.”
The short version of Ryskin’s paper is here:
Click to access ryskin-paper-short.pdf
MV: Don’t you believe it’s possible for mid ocean volcanics to widen seas and push continents under each other in subducting zones?
No mains no current, it all starts if the earth device is connected. Water is diamagnetic, so it is part of the phenomenon.
I don’t buy it…
Tides move large volumes of water around the tidal basins on a regular basis…
Well a lot depends upon what force moves these large volumes of water… standard theory talks about the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon and the Sun and the rotation of the Earth and completely excludes any possibility the EM force is involved – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_tides
I think Miles Mathis has done a great job in demolishing the standard theory:
The Trouble with Tides http://milesmathis.com/tide.html
The Solution to Tides – Part 1 http://milesmathis.com/tide2.html
The Solution to Tides – Part 2 http://milesmathis.com/tide3.html
The Solution to Tides – Postscript http://milesmathis.com/tide4.html
The Solution to Tides – Part 3 http://milesmathis.com/tide5.html
More Trouble with Tides http://milesmathis.com/tide6.html
The gravitational tidal bulges don’t really tally with the observered tides that circle around Tidal Nodes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:M2_tidal_constituent.jpg
So considering that water is diamagnetic then I can buy: Earths magnetism modulated by seawater… therefore, I don’t have a problem with the idea that the ocean currents [pun intended or do I mean double entendre] could amplify or moderate this magnetic effect.
Difficult to know what to believe. It would help if physics could tell us what magnetism is and what causes the observed force when electrons flow through a conductor. Formulae exist to measure the effects, but an understanding of the underlying force is needed to solve these sort of problems. Physics has failed to provide this. Perhaps they need to invent another virtual particle, à la the graviton, to explain how magnetism works???
No mains no current, it all starts if the earth device is connected. Water is diamagnetic, so it is part of the phenomenon.
I like your phrasing very much: part of the phenomenon.
MV: Don’t you believe it’s possible for mid ocean volcanics to widen seas and push continents under each other in subducting zones?
Now that is a witches brew of issues…
First off: Does subduction exist?
YES – a tectonic plate can move laterally… so it could move under another plate (subduction) or over another plate (overriding) or move apart from another plate or squeeze up another plate – perhaps even fracturing and embedding itself into another plate… there are probably geological examples of all of these effects.
BUT I go back to my two dimensional analogy of an old parquet floor… where one of the wooded blocks represents a tectonic plate… the wooden blocks are very much locked together… yes you can wobble a wooden block about but you can’t drift the block from one side of the room to the other.
NOW lets make the analogy three dimensional by layering a number of old parquet floors on top of each other…
AND lets make it more realistic by replacing some off the overlapping wood blocks with single blocks of wood… so now we have some larger blocks of wood that are effectively keyed into several layers of flooring…. it is important to remember that faulting (cracking, fracking etc) occurs in three dimensions… so you end up with a three dimensional inter-locked mosaic of tectonic blocks (plates) that can wobble about… but it would take a miracle to for these blocks (plates) to drift around the room (world) significantly.
Tectonic Plates are usually a lot longer/wider than they are deep… think about a wooden block in the parquet floor… but their shape and density are not regular nor even… so tectonic plates are literally out of balance… and this is where gravity kicks in over geologic time… the heavier side of the tectonic plate starts to sink… the lighter side of the tectonic plate starts to rise just like a see-saw. The earth is squishy enough for this sort of movement – just think of Glacial Compression and Post-Glacial Rebound.
The results of this see-saw action are variable… perhaps the tectonic plate is locked into position and counter balanced by other tectonic plates… perhaps the tectonic plate cracks / fractures… perhaps the tectonic plate starts to see-saw – so one side moves down (creates a trench) and the other lifts up (creates a mountain/s)… perhaps other tectonic plates now have more wiggle room and slip a bit… and perhaps there are newer / better pathways that facilitate magma eruptions.
Second off: Do mid ocean volcanoes widen oceans and push continents apart?
NO.
My view is very much that magma upwells from in the earth… magma is under pressure and seeks a path of least resistance to the surface… so that main force is driving the magma vertically out of the earth. That is not to say that the magma wont push its way out of the earth.. it does… magma chambers bubble up… but the main driver is upwards… and once the magma erupts onto the surface of the earth then any lateral component of the force is greatly reduced… so there is no real lateral force that would enable an erupting volcano to push continents apart. This basic concept is fairly easy to verify… take a look at the volcanoes around the world… they are mainly associated with domes and cones (not holes in the ground). However, there are volcanic eruptions that erupt ocean floor building type magma – this is currently happening in the Horn of Africa which is at the end of the East African Rift Valley… so my view is (again) that the magma is finding the path of least resistance i.e. a big crack in the earths crust.
The bottom line is that it comes down to cause and effect… and the mid-ocean volcanic ridges are a result of tectonic plate fractures.
Third off: What pushes continents apart?
Good question. This is the question I asked myself. I looked into plate tectonics and found that continental drift is impossible with a 3D mosaic of interlocking tectonic plates. I looked at mid-ocean volcanoes and could not find the lateral force to drive continental drift (even if it was possible). So I went back to first principles.
The general assumption is that the earth is a hot lump of rock slowly cooling into space as it circles around the sun… seems sort of reasonable at first glance… but then if the earth is cooling then it should also be shrinking… and as it shrinks the earth’s daily spin should speed up… but is gets slower instead in an irregular manner… and if the earth is cooling then why does all this magma still need to force its way out onto the surface of the planet after all this time… the main settled science elements in this back to first principles thinking don’t seem to add up to my mind… and that settled science includes what is at the core of the earth.
So I looked for what would explain why the spin of the earth is slowing down irregularly and why magma is still erupting under pressure… and the answer is quite simple… but not very well respected: an expanding earth… that answer is definitely not settled science… purely conjecture… but there is increasing evidence that the ocean floors are basically stretched / squishy tectonic plates – hence the crust under the oceans is that much thinner than continents… and perhaps magma and abiogenic oil are evidence of an ongoing nuclear reaction at the core of the earth… lets open out eyes to the possibilities and remove the blindfold and prejudices of settled science which is a perfect example of an oxymoron.
Perhaps they need to invent another virtual particle
I would not encourage them to invent more magical particles (fairy dust) and magic forces (magicians wand)… I am with Miles Mathis on this one… keep it physical… keep it mechanical… keep it real… think Newton’s Cradle http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N23hWICdgsU
At the end of the day….Tallbloke´s blog will be the cradle for the newborn baby…
We live in interesting times… or it it the Saturn Uranus opposition? 🙂
Malaga View says:
July 1, 2011 at 4:13 pm
“I would not encourage them to invent more magical particles…”
Sorry MV, forgot the /sarc tag… 🙂
Another interesting geophysical event in Hawaii on 22 June 2011…
TB.
Ah, now I see why you thought my OT post on the Thea collision was pertinent.
It just seemed a logical conclusion to me, but I still think the main dynamic to induce a magnetosphere is the ionisation of gasses at altitude within Earth rotation driven Climate Cells.
Best regards, Ray Dart.
@adolfogiurfa says:
July 1, 2011 at 5:55 pm “or it it the Saturn Uranus opposition? 🙂 ”
I would go with the Saturn Uranus opposition as there can’t be much Intelligence involved. pg
This week, parts of the Cornish coastline were hit by what appears to have been a mini-tsunami. The wave was of no great height, but it was still substantial enough to suck the sea out for 150 feet or more, before surging back in to drench the causeway linking St Michael’s Mount to the mainland near Penzance…If that isn’t strange enough, witnesses said it was preceded by a surge of static electricity. ‘People’s hair stood on end,’ said a National Trust guide on the Mount.
Others reported the air going unnaturally still, with a dense, warm clamminess settling over land and sea before the wave struck…… might we have found one of the great holy grails of seismology — a reliable way of predicting earthquakes which could save thousands of lives?
http://climaterealists.com/index.php?id=7973
Re Adolpho’s comment, Miles Mathis has an essay on ‘Earthquake Lights’.
Mathis’ writings are certainly entertaining and provocative.
It would be astonishing if his theories, or even some of his explanations, were shown to be correct!
structure of magnetism in earth’s core http://mb-soft.com/public/tecto2.html
Thanks Bill, interesting thesis at that link. I’ve emailed the author.
He certainly has spent some time thinking about the general idea, to have the smooth flow of the visualization of the inner concept, formed in his ind enough to get it down that well on paper.
Read the whole article, but not the whole web site, will be back as time permits to see the rest of his concepts.
Everyone: Please discuss this further on the new thread