Does the Planetary Dynamo Go Cycling On? Re-examining Evidence for Cycles in Magnetic Reversal Rate
First published: 2016
Brief summary
Critical review of claims for periodicity in Earth's magnetic reversal rate, noting early claims of a ~1 Myr periodicity were not supported once more paleomagnetic data became available.
Article
Does the Planetary Dynamo Go Cycling On? Re-examining Evidence for Cycles in Magnetic Reversal Rate is a preprint published by arXiv in 2016. It focuses on critical review of claims for periodicity in Earth's magnetic reversal rate, noting early claims of a ~1 Myr periodicity were not supported once more paleomagnetic data became available.
Discusses early claimed ~1 Myr periodicity (not supported by later data). It also considers methodological review of what statistically constitutes 'periodicity' in reversal record. This gives the cycle claim a specific numerical and evidential setting rather than presenting periodicity only as a visual impression.
The article reports the following result: Early analyses seemed to indicate a 1 Myr periodicity between polarity states, however as more data became available the argument for a simple periodicity in the record was no longer tenable. The interpretation is strongest when measurement uncertainty, nonlinear dynamics, boundary conditions and alternative physical mechanisms are tested explicitly.
For cycles researchers, the article brings together geomagnetic reversals, planetary dynamo, periodicity criticism, paleomagnetic record. It is relevant to physical and geophysical systems in which oscillation, reversal, recurrence and nonlinear dynamics must be distinguished from random variability.
Because it is a preprint, the work should be read alongside later peer-reviewed publications and independent replications. It remains useful because the proposed cycle, dataset and analytical approach are stated clearly enough to be scrutinised.
Source details and credits
- Source / publisher: arXiv
- Source type: Preprint
- URL type: PDF
- Credits: arXiv
- URL: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1608.07303