Re: magnetic field lines like these?

[Gary Karshner <karshner@STMARYTX.EDU>]

At 12:05 PM 5/6/98 -0400, you wrote:
> How do NS reversals occur? Does B goes to zero everywhere and then starts
> growing in the opposite direction? Or is the magnetic moment turning without
> a significant change in magnitude? Perhaps Uranus is in the middle of a
> reversion in which the magnitude is more or less constant.

Ludwik,
        If you think about reversing a compass needle using a magnet, or the
B-H curve, it is easier to flip the magnetic field then it is to have it
drop to zero. In the case of the sun, the poles just flip over in a short
time, not necessarily together. I believe in the 1964 flip, one pole flipped
and some months later the other followed. In the interim they were both near
the same rotational pole about ten thousand or so kilometers apart. It is
only during sunspot minimums that you can even detect the suns magnetic
poles as sunspots fields are so much stronger.This also makes following the
actual reversal difficult as well.

I hope this helps.

Gary
Gary Karshner

St. Mary's University
San Antonio, Texas
KARSHNER@STMARYTX.EDU