Advertisement

Updated February 6th, 2019 at 19:28 IST

Check your compass: Earth's magnetic North Pole has officially moved

Earth's north magnetic pole has been drifting so fast in the last few decades that scientists that past estimates are no longer accurate enough for precise navigation. On Monday, they released an update of where true north really was, nearly a year ahead of schedule.

| Image:self
Advertisement

Earth's north magnetic pole has been drifting so fast in the last few decades that scientists that past estimates are no longer accurate enough for precise navigation. On Monday, they released an update of where true north really was, nearly a year ahead of schedule.

The magnetic north pole is wandering about 34 miles (55 kilometers) a year. It crossed the international date line in 2017, and is leaving the Canadian Arctic on its way to Siberia.

The constant shift is a problem for compasses in smartphones and some consumer electronics. Aeroplanes and boats also rely on magnetic north, usually as backup navigation, said University of Colorado geophysicist Arnaud Chulliat, lead author of the newly issued World Magnetic Model. GPS isn't affected because it's satellite-based.

The military depends on where magnetic north is for navigation and parachute drops, while NASA, the Federal Aviation Administration and US Forest Service also use it.

READ: "Global 'waming' Come Back Fast", Tweets US President Donald Trump; Netizens Roast Him Brutally

Airport runway names are based on their direction toward magnetic north and their names change when the poles moved. For example, the airport in Fairbanks, Alaska, renamed a runway 1L-19R to 2L-20R in 2009.

The US and the United Kingdom tend to update the location of the magnetic north pole every five years in December, but this update came early because of the pole's faster movement.

The movement of the magnetic north pole "is pretty fast," Chulliat said. Since 1831 when it was first measured in the Canadian Arctic it has moved about 1,400 miles (2300 kilometres) toward Siberia. Its speed jumped from about 9 mph (15 kph) to 34 mph (55 kph) since 2000.

The reason is turbulence in Earth's liquid outer core. There is a hot liquid ocean of iron and nickel in the planet's core where the motion generates an electric field, said University of Maryland geophysicist Daniel Lathrop, who wasn't part of the team monitoring the magnetic north pole.

"It has changes akin to weather," Lathrop said. "We might just call it magnetic weather." The magnetic south pole is moving far slower than the north.

In general Earth's magnetic field is getting weaker, leading scientists to say that it will eventually flip, where north and south pole changes polarity, like a bar magnet flipping over. It has happened numerous times in Earth's past, but not in the last 780,000 years.

"It's not a question of if it's going to reverse, the question is when it's going to reverse," Lathrop said.

When it reverses, it won't be like a coin flip, but take 1,000 or more years, experts said. Lathrop sees a flip coming sooner rather than later because of the weakened magnetic field and an area over the South Atlantic has already reversed beneath Earth's surface.

That could bother some birds that use magnetic fields to navigate. And an overall weakening of the magnetic field isn't good for people and especially satellites and astronauts. The magnetic field shields Earth from some dangerous radiation, Lathrop said.

READ: Gigantic Cavity In Antarctic Glacier Indicates Rapid Decay Due To Climate Change: NASA

Advertisement

Published February 6th, 2019 at 19:20 IST

Your Voice. Now Direct.

Send us your views, we’ll publish them. This section is moderated.

Advertisement
Advertisement

Trending Quicks

Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli
a few seconds ago
Congress Press Conference
2 minutes ago
Virat Kohli's text to RCB owners got WPL team to unbox event
3 minutes ago
Pakistan and the IMF agree on a $1.1 billion disbursement for the debt-ridden economy.
4 minutes ago
Millet
7 minutes ago
Lok Sabha Elections 2024 LIVE
14 minutes ago
IndiGo direct flight between Mumbai and Ayodhya
17 minutes ago
former dsp shailendra singh revealed criminal activity of Mukhtar Ansari
19 minutes ago
IBL Finance IPO
23 minutes ago
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell
28 minutes ago
RBI
38 minutes ago
TCS 'cash for jobs' scam
44 minutes ago
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Whatsapp logo