Earth’s North Magnetic Pole is Wandering and Scientists are Trying to Discern Why

January 10, 2019 – The North Pole is not the same as magnetic north. That’s because the Earth as a magnet is not aligned precisely with the axis of spin. This wouldn’t be something to worry too much about if it weren’t for the fact that our magnetic field underlies all modern navigation technology. If the pole deviates too far from the axial pole then compasses that point north will no longer actually be doing this.

The current World’s Magnetic Model was last updated in 2015. This week an update was due but the partial shutdown of the U.S. government has postponed the announcement. Another revision is planned for 2020. Why suddenly are we getting high-frequency updates on Earth’s magnetic field? Because it is changing at a much more rapid pace than normal.

Why? It may have a lot to do with what is happening deep inside the planet because it is our iron core and the swirling and churning beneath the mantle that generates Earth’s magnetic field.

At a recent meeting of the American Geophysical Union held in Washington, DC, geologists described the rate of change and attributed it to:

1. A geomagnetic pule detected in 2016 beneath South America which caused the magnetic pole to move more rapidly than normal.
2. The motion of the north magnetic pole which in 2018 crossed the International Date Line and is making a beeline for Siberia.

To deal with the navigational challenges that these two phenomena are creating, scientists have to recalibrate navigational software algorithms to adjust for the deviation.

What caused the geomagnetic pulse? Scientists believe it can be traced back to “hydromagnetic” waves from Earth’s core. And the erratic motion of the north magnetic pole may be caused by a high-speed jet of liquid iron that is flowing beneath Canada.

States Phil Livermore, a geomagnetist at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom, “The location of the north magnetic pole appears to be governed by two large-scale patches of magnetic field, one beneath Canada and one beneath Siberia. The Siberian patch is winning the competition.”

Besides the scientific curiosity of a wandering magnetic pole, what potential harm can it do? You know that electronic street map that displays on the console of your late model car? It uses GPS data which updated by the government regularly. What degrees of difference can make to those maps with significant magnetic pole changes annually could make the difference between being told to turn on to an on-ramp to an interstate highway that isn’t there.

Some interesting facts about the North Magnetic Pole.

1. First located in 1831, over the entire time it has moved 1,102 kilometers.
2. The location of the pole actually wanders as much as 80 kilometers per day in loops so that the plot of the pole is determined by drawing a line to the centre of each daily loop.
3. The current rate of movement has increased from 15 to 55 kilometers per year.