There are a lot of reports claiming the bird and fish deaths could be related to the changing magnetic field.
Yeah, but consider who is making such "reports." Even if that could happen, there's nothing presently anomalous with Earth's magnetic field, so that claim is false.
I know bird and fish die offs occur regularly but it does seem strange so many happened at the same time.
The number in recent weeks hasn't been all that unusual. The blackbird death toll in Arkansas was pretty large, but everything else has been more or less run-of-the-mill. The only difference is a completely absurd level of media coverage.
Also, there are airports that have had to remark landing strips because the poles are changing.
Airports routinely repaint numbers on runways, because our planet's magnetic poles are not static; they move about constantly. The markings have to be within the nearest ten degrees, so sometimes they have to be changed.
How do we know that this won't cause a big disaster?
Because it happens all the time, has always happened, and will continue to happen.
Also, there are reports about the magnetic field having holes in it. Could these temporary holes that open and close not cause damage?
Breaches in the magnetosphere come and go fairly regularly, depending on solar activity. They can cause some electromagnetic loading in the upper atmosphere, that might cause more intense auroras the next time there's a geomagnetic storm, possible power outages in extreme cases, but such phenomena are not directly threatening.
jewels (guest) 14 Jan 2011 23:56