The Earth's North Magnetic Pole is Shifting to Siberia: What It Means

Researchers from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration together with the British Geological Survey have developed a new World Magnetic Model. The World Magnetic Model is updated every five years.

The latest version shows that the North magnetic pole of the planet is moving from Canada to Siberia. At the same time, the geographical North Pole remains in its place, at the top of the Earth's rotation axis. The Earth's magnetic field is changing due to the movement of iron and nickel in the planet's core, which causes the movement of the North and South magnetic poles. This is reported by Science Alert.

The magnetic north is moving at a speed we have not seen before. Since the 1500s, it has been moving slowly in the Canadian area, but over the past 20 years, the speed of its movement towards Siberia has increased significantly. Over the past five years, this acceleration has slowed from 50 to 35 km per year, the largest slowdown ever recorded," explains William Brown, a geomagnetic modeling specialist at the British Geological Survey.

The magnetic northward shift is caused by two large magnetic anomalies - one of which is located under Canada and the other under Siberia. Sometimes these shifts are so significant that they require an urgent update that goes beyond the usual five-year cycle.

Scientists emphasize that if you travel from South Africa to the UK in a straight line, using an outdated map of the World Magnetic Model will lead to a 150 km deviation from the course by the end of the route.

Major airlines will be forced to update the navigation software in all their aircraft, and NATO military forces will have to modernize the software for navigation systems on various types of equipment. However, users of mobile phones and satellite navigators do not need to worry, as the update will be done automatically.

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