Scientists studying the causes of climate change have looked to Earth’s atmosphere for answers.
But that may be the wrong place to find them, says William Goodenough, author of “The Three Concepts of Climate Change: Is AGW Politics or Science?” (www.whyclimatechange.net).
Instead, the key could lie in the planet’s magnetic poles, which have been shifting from their traditional locations at the same time the Earth has experienced erratic weather behavior.
“It seems likely a magnetic-pole shift event is causing the unstable weather conditions we are experiencing, and could cause sustained changes to the Earth’s climate conditions,” Goodenough says.
If true, that would mean climate change is driven by natural forces and not humans spewing CO2 into the atmosphere, as many scientists and politicians claim, Goodenough says.
According to NASA, NOAA and the ESA, the magnetic North Pole has been creeping northward from Canada toward Russia since the early 19th century.
NASA says that’s nothing new. Throughout Earth’s 4.5-billion-year existence, the space agency says, the two magnetic poles have swapped positions about every 500,000 years.
Although the scientific community doesn’t link the shift to climate change, Goodenough says the connection is worth exploring.
“Climate science is a murky science,” he says. “When dealing with temperature variations and trends that might be influenced by humans, we don’t have an instrument that tells us how much change is due to humans and how much to Mother Nature.”
Goodenough’s background is as a technical analyst, not a climatologist, but it was while analyzing aerospace GPS capabilities that he began forming his thesis.
Fascinated by the fact the magnetic poles were relocating, he began a 12-year study that resulted in his analytical abilities converging with the climate-change arena.
Goodenough says magnetic pole relocation affects Earth two ways:
• It alters the direction of the enormous current flow through the Earth, theoretically causing magnetic chaos in the Earth’s core, which in turn weakens the magnetic shield that protects the planet from damaging solar particles.
• It changes the direction of the interaction between the geophysical and the magnetic North Poles by moving the coldest area of the Arctic, thereby altering the climate. Each set of poles (North and South) interact to determine the temperature profile relative to their respective pole.
Goodenough acknowledges his thesis needs more detailed study. He says there are several interested parties that would benefit from such research.
“The fossil-fuel industry is one,” he says. “If we can show it’s certain that global warming is from this natural shift and not CO2, then fossil fuels wouldn’t have the bad name they do in all this.”
About William Goodenough
William Goodenough is author of “The Three Concepts of Climate Change: Is AGW Politics or Science” (www.whyclimatechange.net), available on Amazon and all major book outlets. He is a technical analyst with decades of experience in scientific analysis of computer systems, control systems, pneumatic systems, power distributions systems, automated processes, hydraulic systems and fuel systems related to aerospace certification.
