The Earth's magnetic field flips with a terrifying sound unlike anything we've ever heard before (video).

The Earth's Magnetic Field is generated by swirling liquid metals in the core of our planet and extends for tens of thousands of kilometers into space, shielding us and deflecting destructive solar particles that could harm our atmosphere. It is known that just over 40,000 years ago, the planet's magnetic field underwent a dramatic change, and now scientists have managed to recreate this reversal, as reported by Science Alert.

In a 2024 study, a team from the Technical University of Denmark and the German Research Center for Geosciences utilized data collected by the European Space Agency's Swarm satellite mission. The researchers successfully interpreted and compiled the data, allowing them to reproduce the eerie sound of the Earth's magnetic field reversal — unlike anything we've heard before.

By combining satellite data with evidence of magnetic field line movements on Earth, European geologists mapped the so-called Laschamp event and represented it using sounds like creaking wood and the rumble of colliding stones. As a result, the team created something truly remarkable.

In its current orientation, the magnetic field lines form closed loops, directed from south to north above the planet's surface, and then from north to south deep within it. However, from time to time, the field randomly changes its polarity. If this were to happen again today, our compasses pointing north would instead indicate the South Pole.

The last catastrophic event of this magnitude occurred about 41,000 years ago, leaving a mark in the lava flows of Laschamp in France. When the field weakened to just 5% of its current strength, the inversion process allowed an influx of cosmic rays to penetrate the Earth's atmosphere.

Ice and marine sediments serve as repositories for isotopic traces of this higher-than-usual solar bombardment. Researchers also found that levels of the isotope beryllium-10 doubled during the Laschamp event. These altered atoms form when cosmic rays interact with our atmosphere, ionizing the air and damaging the ozone layer. Given that global climate change could be a potential consequence, it is suggested that the extinction of Australia's megafauna, as well as changes in human cave usage, may have been linked to this event.

According to co-author of the study, geophysicist Sanya Panovska from the German Research Center for Geosciences, understanding such extreme events in Earth's history is crucial for anticipating their occurrence in the future, as well as for predicting space weather and assessing environmental impacts on Earth’s systems.

The Laschamp inversion took 250 years and remained in an unusual orientation for about 440 years. The Earth's magnetic field may have stayed at a maximum of 25% of its current strength as the northern polarity shifted southward.

Scientists have been monitoring the Earth's magnetic field for years, and recent anomalies in the magnetic field, such as the weakening over the Atlantic Ocean, have reignited concerns about a potential upcoming inversion. However, recent research findings suggest that these anomalies are not necessarily linked to a future reversal of the Earth's magnetic field.