I hear if the poles switched, or if the magnetic field moved perpendicular to the poles (or something) a wave of solar radiation would be unleashed into our atmosphere. I was thinking that this would heat the surface temperature of the earth, but more importantly of the oceans. It would melt down ice caps, hurricanes would become more common. The air would be absorbing more precipitation, producing more clouds which would help block out the radiation. The hurricanes and rainfall would probably transfer tons of water to every part of the world. Truly, I don't actually know what would happen but I think its an awesome subject. Apparently the poles do this every once and awhile, it might even be partly responsible for past human apocalypses and it may have even contributed to killing the dinosaurs. What'y you guys think or know about the poles?
You're talking about geo-magnetic reversals. They're real things. Unfortunately there is a truly disgusting amount of paranoid pseduoscience and doomsayer mythos surrounding the subject. Watch where you tread and be very critical of the claims. I had to read sections of this book in my planetary science course. It's a good one and it's totally free online. http://books.google.ca/books?ct=res...C1Az-MxJf59RVA&q=Geomagnetic+Reversal#PPP1,M1
i think what you are talking about is when magnetic north and magnetic south switch, which is refered to the poles switching. if this happens then your compass will actuly be pointing south rather than north, even though it says north. birds may get confused about migratory patterns and since it would happen over a long period it is likely that hardly any other effects would be noticed.