(May 22, 2020)

According to the European Space Agency (ESA), the magnetic field has lost around 9 percent of its strength over the preceding two centuries. One section of the magnetic field has been found to have weakened considerably since 1970.

This patch, called the South Atlantic Anomaly, sits between Africa and South America. Over the last 50 years, it has grown and moved farther west at a rate of roughly 12 miles per year. However, in the last five years, part of the anomaly appears to have split off into a cell which the ESA calls a „second center of minimum intensity“ located southwest of Africa.