The Earth’s magnetic field acts as a protective shield around the planet, repelling and trapping charged particles from the sun. But across South America and the South Atlantic Ocean, an unusually weak spot in the field – the South Atlantic Anomaly, or SAA – causes these particles to dip closer to the surface than normal.
At present, the SAA does not create any visible impact on daily life on the surface. Recent observations and forecasts, however, show that the region is expanding to the west and continues to weaken in intensity. It is also split – recent data shows the fall of the anomaly, as region of minimum field strength, is split into two lobes, creating additional challenges for satellite missions.
The South Atlantic Anomaly is also important NASAEarth scientists who monitor the changes in magnetic strength there, both for how such changes affect the Earth’s atmosphere and as an indicator of what is happening to the Earth’s magnetic fields, deep in the Earth world.
Read NASA Tracking “Dent” slowly splitting into the Earth’s magnetic field to learn more about the evolving dent in the Earth’s magnetic field.
