“Without a magnetic field, the galaxy would collapse in on itself due to gravity,” says Brown, a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Calgary.

“We need to know what the magnetic field of the galaxy looks like now, so we can create accurate models that predict how it will evolve.”

New Milky Way Magnetic Field Data and Models

This month, Brown and her colleagues published two new studies in The Astrophysical Journal and The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. Together, the papers introduce a complete dataset that astronomers around the world can use, along with a new model designed to improve understanding of how the Milky Way’s magnetic field developed over time.

To gather the data, the team relied on a new radio telescope at the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory in B.C., a National Research Council Canada facility. The instrument allowed them to scan the northern sky at multiple radio frequencies, offering a detailed look at the structure of the galaxy’s magnetic field.

“The broad coverage really lets you get at the details about the magnetic field structure,” says Dr. Anna Ordog, PhD, lead author of the first study.

The result is a high quality, wide ranging dataset collected as part of the Global Magneto-Ionic Medium Survey (GMIMS), an international effort to chart the Milky Way’s magnetic field.

Tracking Faraday Rotation Across the Galaxy

The researchers measured a phenomenon known as Faraday rotation to trace the magnetic field. This effect occurs when radio waves pass through regions filled with electrons and magnetic fields, causing the waves to shift.

“You can think of it like refraction. A straw in a glass of water looks bent because of how light interacts with matter,” says Rebecca Booth, a PhD candidate working with Brown and lead author of the second study. “Faraday rotation is a similar concept, but it’s electrons and magnetic fields in space interacting with radio waves.”

By analyzing these subtle changes in radio signals, the team was able to map how the magnetic field is arranged across vast stretches of the galaxy.

A Diagonal Magnetic Reversal in the Sagittarius Arm

In the second study, Booth focused on a striking feature within the Milky Way known as the Sagittarius Arm, where the magnetic field runs in the opposite direction compared to the rest of the galaxy.

“If you could look at the galaxy from above, the overall magnetic field is going clockwise,” says Brown. “But, in the Sagittarius Arm, it’s going counterclockwise. We didn’t understand how the transition occurred. Then one day, Anna brought in some data, and I went, ‘O.M.G., the reversal’s diagonal!'”

Building on Ordog’s findings, Booth used the newly assembled dataset to construct a three dimensional model explaining this reversal.

“My work presents a new three-dimensional model for the magnetic field reversal. From Earth, this would appear as the diagonal that we observe in the data,” Booth explains.

The research is not designed to forecast earthquakes. Instead, it outlines a possible physical mechanism showing how shifts in ionospheric charge levels — triggered by intense solar activity such as solar flares — might interact with already weakened areas of the crust and influence how fractures develop.

How the Ionosphere Could Affect Fault Zones

In this model, cracked regions of the crust are thought to contain water at extremely high temperatures and pressures, possibly in a supercritical state. Electrically, these fractured zones may act like capacitors. They are coupled both to the Earth’s surface and to the lower ionosphere, creating a vast electrostatic system that links the ground to the upper atmosphere.

When solar activity surges, electron density in the ionosphere can rise significantly. This can produce a negatively charged layer in the lower ionosphere. Through capacitive coupling, that charge may generate intense electric fields inside microscopic voids within fractured rock. The resulting electrostatic pressure could approach levels similar to tidal or gravitational stresses that are already known to influence fault stability.

According to the team’s calculations, ionospheric disturbances tied to major solar flares — involving increases in total electron content of several tens of TEC units — might create electrostatic pressures of several megapascals within these crustal voids.

Ionospheric Anomalies Observed Before Major Quakes

Unusual ionospheric behavior has often been detected before powerful earthquakes. Observations have included spikes in electron density, drops in ionospheric altitude, and slower propagation of medium-scale traveling ionospheric disturbances. Traditionally, scientists have interpreted these changes as effects caused by stress building up inside the crust.

This new framework offers an additional perspective. It suggests a two way interaction in which processes inside the Earth can influence the ionosphere, while ionospheric disturbances may also send feedback forces back down into the crust. The model connects space weather and seismic activity without claiming that solar activity directly causes earthquakes.

Solar Activity and the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake

The researchers point to recent major earthquakes in Japan, including the 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake, as events that occurred shortly after periods of intense solar flare activity. They stress that this timing does not prove cause and effect. However, it aligns with the idea that ionospheric disturbances could act as a contributing factor when faults are already close to failure.

Rethinking Earthquakes Beyond Internal Forces

By drawing on plasma physics, atmospheric science, and geophysics, this approach expands the traditional view that earthquakes are driven solely by forces inside the planet. The findings indicate that tracking ionospheric conditions alongside underground measurements could improve understanding of how earthquakes begin and how seismic risk is assessed.

Future work will combine high-resolution GNSS-based ionospheric tomography with detailed space weather data. The goal is to determine when and how ionospheric disturbances might exert meaningful electrostatic effects on the Earth’s crust.

The dolphin-sized creature, named Xiphodracon goldencapensis and nicknamed the “Sword Dragon of Dorset,” is the only known specimen of its species. Its discovery helps close a major gap in the fossil record and offers new insight into ichthyosaur evolution.

For more than two centuries, the Jurassic Coast has yielded thousands of ichthyosaur fossils, ever since pioneering fossil hunter Mary Anning began making historic finds there. However, this marks the first new genus of Early Jurassic ichthyosaur described from the region in more than 100 years.

Exceptionally Preserved 190-Million-Year-Old Fossil

The fossil was found near Golden Cap in 2001 by Dorset collector Chris Moore. Preserved in nearly perfect three-dimensional detail, the skeleton includes a skull with a huge eye socket and an elongated, sword-like snout. Researchers estimate the animal measured about three meters long and likely fed on fish and squid. There may even be traces of its final meal preserved within the remains. It is thought to be the most complete prehistoric reptile ever discovered from the Pliensbachian period.

The research was carried out by an international team of paleontologists led by ichthyosaur specialist Dr. Dean Lomax, an Honorary Research Fellow at The University of Manchester and an 1851 Research Fellow at the University of Bristol. Their findings appear in the journal Papers in Palaeontology.

Dr. Lomax said: “I remember seeing the skeleton for the first time in 2016. Back then, I knew it was unusual, but I did not expect it to play such a pivotal role in helping to fill a gap in our understanding of a complex faunal turnover during the Pliensbachian. This time is pretty crucial for ichthyosaurs as several families went extinct and new families emerged, yet Xiphodracon is something you might call a “missing piece of the ichthyosaur puzzle.” It is more closely related to species in the later Early Jurassic (in the Toarcian), and its discovery helps pinpoint when the faunal turnover occurred, being much earlier than expected.”

Solving an Evolutionary Mystery

After it was collected in 2001, the skeleton was acquired by the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada, where it joined one of the world’s largest ichthyosaur collections. Despite its importance, it had remained unstudied until now.

Ichthyosaurs from the Pliensbachian (193-184 million years ago) are extremely rare, making this specimen especially valuable. Scientists have long known that ichthyosaur species before and after this time period were very different from one another, even though they occupied similar ecological roles.

Co-author Professor Judy Massare of the State University of NY at Brockport explained: “Thousands of complete or nearly complete ichthyosaur skeletons are known from strata before and after the Pliensbachian. The two faunas are quite distinct, with no species in common, even though the overall ecology is similar. Clearly, a major change in species diversity occurred sometime in the Pliensbachian. Xiphodracon helps to determine when the change occurred, but we still don’t know why.”

Evidence of Injury and a Violent End

The skeleton also provides clues about the challenges of life in Jurassic seas. According to co-author Dr. Erin Maxwell of the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart, several limb bones and teeth show abnormalities that suggest the animal suffered serious injury or illness while it was alive. The skull also appears to bear bite marks from a much larger predator — likely another large ichthyosaur — which may have caused its death.

Dr. Maxwell said: “This skeleton provides critical information for understanding ichthyosaur evolution, but also contributes to our understanding of what life must have been like in the Jurassic seas of Britain. The limb bones and teeth are malformed in such a way that points to serious injury or disease while the animal was still alive, and the skull appears to have been bitten by a large predator — likely another much larger species of ichthyosaur — giving us a cause of death for this individual. Life in the Mesozoic oceans was a dangerous prospect.”

Unique Features and a Fitting Name

Researchers identified several anatomical traits in Xiphodracon that have never been documented in any other ichthyosaur. One of the most unusual features is a distinctive bone near the nostril (called a lacrimal) that includes prong-like projections.

Dr. Lomax, author of the recent book “The Secret Lives of Dinosaurs,” said: “One of the coolest things about identifying a new species is that you get to name it! We opted for Xiphodracon because of the long, sword-like snout (xipho from Greek xiphos for sword) and dracon (Greek and Latin for dragon) in reference to ichthyosaurs being referred to as “sea dragons” for over 200 years.”

The study was published in the international journal Papers in Palaeontology. The fossil is expected to go on public display at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada.