Scientists: 41,000 years ago, the aurora borealis was at the equator

41 thousand years ago, due to a violation of the Earth’s magnetic field, the aurora borealis could be observed at the equator. This is the conclusion reached by scientists who spoke about their research at the American Geophysical Union Conference.

The reason was the so-called Lachamp event – a short-term change in the Earth’s magnetic field at the end of the last Ice Age. Then the Earth’s magnetic field weakened, its tilt changed, and it almost stopped redirecting streams of infected particles from the Sun to the poles.

It took 1,300 years to restore the magnetic field’s previous strength and inclination, and during this period, the aurora borealis can reach the equator, where it is not currently observed, said Agnit Mohupadae of the University of Michigan.

With her colleagues, she used several models and data about the magnitude of the magnetic field during the Lachamp event epoch, taken from the study of lava and sedimentary rocks. Scientists found that despite the fact that the size of the magnetosphere was then reduced to 3.8 Earth radii, the magnetic field did not completely disappear. During this period, the magnetic poles shifted towards equatorial latitudes and the aurora borealis ensued.