In the last two centuries, Earth has lost 9 percent of its magnetic strength on average,according to ESA. Earth's magnetic field which indicated weakening and was causing satellites in space to malfunction. The weakening was seen between Africa and South America.

This is apparently called ‘The South Atlantic Anomaly’. Researchers state that our magnetic field acts like a shield of sorts, saving us from solar winds, cosmic radiation, and other several cosmic calamities.

Even though its effects aren’t very significant as of now, the magnitude of the anomaly should not be ignored. In the last two centuries, Earth has lost 9 percent of its magnetic strength on average, according to ESA.

 Moreover, researchers have also witnessed minimum field strength in the South Atlantic Anomaly from approximately 24,000 nanoteslas to 22,000 nanoteslas over the past 50 years.

Surprisingly, this isn’t odd. Researchers claim that Earth’s magnetic field is constantly fluctuating every thousand years. Even north and south magnetic poles swap places. However, one thing is certain -- the anomaly has been not sitting still and has been growing in size since 1970. Moreover, it has also been moving westward at a pace of 20 kilometres per year.

But this isn’t it. As per a report by Science Alert, readings by ESA’s Swarm satellites reveal that within the past five years, a second centre of minimum intensity has begun surfacing within the anomaly splitting it into two separate cells with the original centred over middle South America and the newer one over the coast of southwest Africa.

Why is it splitting?

According to geophysicist Jürgen Matzka from the German Research Centre for Geosciences, "The new, eastern minimum of the South Atlantic Anomaly has appeared over the last decade and in recent years is developing vigorously. The challenge now is to understand the processes in Earth's core driving these changes."

The answer to this sadly is unknown for now. According to geophysicist Jürgen Matzka from the German Research Centre for Geosciences, "The new, eastern minimum of the South Atlantic Anomaly has appeared over the last decade and in recent years is developing vigorously. The challenge now is to understand the processes in Earth's core driving these changes."

Previous research has suggested that this ‘geomagnetic reversal’ is more of a recurrent event that occurs in every few hundred years, with the last one occurring around 780,000 years ago. We don’t really know if that’s what it really is, but scientists are looking for answers.