Reversal of drift direction during the Laschamp geomagnetic excursion

Earth's magnetic field changes in both space and time: the temporal changes are called geomagnetic and paleomagnetic secular variations. Westward drift has been noted as a feature of secular variation for several centuries, but eastward drift has received less attention. We use three global geomagnetic field models covering the past 100 kyr to extend temporal coverage for tracking the zonal (azimuthal) motion of the radial magnetic field. The models we use are GGF100k (100–0 ka), GGFSS70 (70–15 ka), LSMOD.2 (50–30 ka); the extent of the models enables the inclusion of the extreme secular variations found during excursions, particularly the Laschamp excursion (42–40 ka). GGFSS70 and LSMOD.2 have higher temporal resolution than GGF100k, but their underlying data have poorer spatial coverage. Spatial structure is greatly diminished in all models for spherical harmonic degrees $l>4$.

We use two types of time-longitude plots, one of the full radial field to expose reverse and intense flux patches at the core-mantle boundary. The second time-longitude plot is processed to enhance zonal motion signatures and allows us to use Radon drift analyses to uncover characteristic time scales of both westward and eastward drift at mid to high latitudes in both the northern and southern hemispheres. Our results differ across the three models, which we attribute to varying degrees of resolution, accuracy, and data distribution. Nevertheless, recurrent episodes of both eastward and westward drift ranging from $\pm {0.05}^o/$yr to $\pm {0.18}^o/$yr occur in both the northern and southern hemispheres. Westward drift dominates. We also observe 8–20 kyr intervals between occurrences of high-latitude reverse flux patches correlated with strong drift signals. Focusing on the period 50–30 ka, we observe dominant eastward drift preceding the Laschamp excursion and westward drift subsequently. In a period not associated with an excursion, 90–80 ka, we see strong mid to high latitude drift signatures in the northern hemisphere.