Quote:
Originally Posted by Pinemarten
From what I gather the Earth's magnetic field is 'electromagnetic' caused by swirls of liquid under the crust. Like a whole bunch of storms creating static electricity to generate a 'combined magnetic field'. There are many small pole pairs. Every once in a while the patterns change drastically, amplify each other, and do a swap.
The links posted by 01101001 will go into detail on this.
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The liquid is the molten iron outer core of the Earth (well under the crust). The pole movement and flips seem to arise from turbulence in this material.
Yes, the linked article is an excellent explanation.