The northern lights may not be exclusively northern any longer, according to a new study.

Researchers at Columbia’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory have discovered that, as the magnetic field of the planet continues to weaken, it will begin to affect how well solar winds bounce off of it.

According to Tech Times, the scientists believe that and appear more frequently in parts of Canada and the U.S.

“The Earth’s magnetic field more or less keeps the solar wind at bay, and it’s the solar wind interacting with the field that contributes to the auroras,” said David Kent of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.“With a strong field, that interaction is pushed to high latitudes. With aweaker field more of the Earth is bathed in these charged particles.

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According to Kent, one consequence of this type of phenomenon would be . There could also be a shift in the southern lights, aurora australis, causing them to move north.

, such as brighter or more frequent displays of the aurorain places like Ottawa, where it isalready occasioanlly visible, reports the National Post.

Researchers discovered that, even though the field has previously reached unusually high levels of strength, . Their findings have shown that the magnetic field has weakened by as much as 10 percent over the past 20 years.

Another major factor in this study is that it details how .

Some scientists predict that during the current weakening of the field, . However, this is unlikely to happen anytime soon.

Despite the fact that the current field is weakening, it is still relatively stronger than the long-term average.

Northern Lights

The Northern Lights seen near Hallbankgate in North Cumbria, on Feb. 27, 2014. (Stuart Walker/Caters News Agency)