Earth's magnetic north pole now closer to Siberia than ever after continuous shifting

The Earth's north magnetic pole continues to move toward Russia. Scientists have published a new model that tracks its position, revealing that the pole is now closer to Siberia than it was five years ago.

This is reported by CNN. Unlike the geographical North Pole, which has a fixed location, the position of the magnetic one is determined by the Earth's magnetic field, which is constantly moving.

"Over the past few decades, magnetic north’s movement has been unprecedented — it dramatically sped up, then in a more recent twist rapidly slowed — though scientists can’t explain the underlying cause behind the magnetic field’s unusual behavior," the article says.

Global positioning systems, including those used by airplanes and ships, find magnetic north using the World Magnetic Model (WMM). It was developed by the British Geological Survey and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This model notes the established position of magnetic north and predicts future drift based on the trajectory over the past few years.

In order to maintain the accuracy of GPS measurements, researchers revise the model every five years, resetting the official position of magnetic north and introducing new predictions of its movement for the next five years.

"Major airlines will upgrade the navigation software across their entire fleets of aircraft to load in the new model, and militaries in NATO will need to upgrade software in a huge number of complex navigation systems across all kinds of equipment," said Dr. William Brown, a geophysicist and geomagnetism researcher with the British Geological Survey.

In 1990, the movement of the north magnetic pole accelerated, increasing from 15 kilometers per year to 55 kilometers per year. This shift was unprecedented, scientists say. And around 2015, the drift slowed to about 35 kilometers per year. The rapid deceleration was also unprecedented, so by 2019, the fluctuations had deviated so far from the previous model that scientists updated it a year earlier.

They expect the drift toward Russia to continue, although Brown says there is some uncertainty about how long the slowdown will last and whether it will continue at the current rate.

"It could change (its) rate, or even speed up again. We will continue to monitor the field and to assess the performance of the WMM, but we do not anticipate needing to release a new model before the planned update in 2030," he said.

Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!