The north magnetic pole is racing toward Russia at almost 40 miles a Year

[vector7]

North Magnetic Pole Moving East Due to Core Flux

Richard A. Lovett in San Francisco
for National Geographic News

December 24, 2009



The north magnetic pole is racing toward Russia at almost 40 miles (64 kilometers) a year due to magnetic changes in the planet's core, new research says.

The core is too deep for scientists to directly detect its magnetic field. But researchers can infer the field's movements by tracking how Earth's magnetic field has been changing at the surface and in space.

Now, newly analyzed data suggest that there's a region of rapidly changing magnetism on the core's surface, possibly being created by a mysterious "plume" of magnetism arising from deeper in the core.

And it's this region that could be pulling the magnetic pole away from its long-time location in northern Canada, said Arnaud Chulliat, a geophysicist at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris in France.

Finding North
Magnetic north, which is the place where compass needles actually point, is near but not exactly in the same place as the geographic North Pole. Right now, magnetic north is close to Canada's Ellesmere Island.
Navigators have used magnetic north for centuries to orient themselves when they're far from recognizable landmarks.

Although global positioning systems have largely replaced such traditional techniques, many people still find compasses useful for getting around underwater and underground where GPS satellites can't communicate.

The magnetic north pole had moved little from the time scientists first located it in 1831. Then in 1904, the pole began shifting northeastward at a steady pace of about 9 miles (15 kilometers) a year.

In 1989 it sped up again, and in 2007 scientists confirmed that the pole is now galloping toward Siberia at 34 to 37 miles (55 to 60 kilometers) a year.

A rapidly shifting magnetic pole means that magnetic-field maps need to be updated more often to allow compass users to make the crucial adjustment from magnetic north to true North.

Wandering Pole
Geologists think Earth has a magnetic field because the core is made up of a solid iron center surrounded by rapidly spinning liquid rock. This creates a "dynamo" that drives our magnetic field.

Scientists had long suspected that, since the molten core is constantly moving, changes in its magnetism might be affecting the surface location of magnetic north.

Although the new research seems to back up this idea, Chulliat is not ready to say whether magnetic north will eventually cross into Russia.
"It's too difficult to forecast," Chulliat said.

Also, nobody knows when another change in the core might pop up elsewhere, sending magnetic north wandering in a new direction.

Chulliat presented his work this week at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.

[American Patriot]

The core is too deep for scientists to directly detect its magnetic field. But researchers can infer the field's movements by tracking how Earth's magnetic field has been changing at the surface and in space.

Huh? What? Too deep to detect? Ummm no... Well, they perhaps can't sound it or something, but they sure as hell DO detect it.

I have a chart here I just bought, mostly accurate of the BVI. The compass rose says

"Magnetic Var 13deg 42min W 2006 Annual Increase 6 min"

(This means that the chart was accurate in 2006 and the variation from true north was 13deg 42min. Each year there is an addition of 6 minutes to that number so the chart will still be accurate, if you do the correction for the variation).

That gives me a change of 18 minutes since 2006 until now. In June when I will use this chart the correction will be +24'.

So the Mag var will be

13deg 42min
+ 24min
===========
14deg 06min

(If I did that right, doing this quickly).


So, that tells me that this chart which was updated last in 2006 is going to be off by 24 minutes when I use it.

24 minutes is, simply put, 24 nm off.

So if I chose a course on the map, I need to make sure if we're using magnetic north that the crew holds the course given + 24 minutes. Nearly half a degree. Otherwise we will miss our destination (if we had a long long distance to go it adds up, being closer it won't be too bad and we should still see our destination).

I'll be doing compass courses, but will have an onboard GPS to back me up, and carrying my personal handheld unit to check against the chart.

[samizdat]

So if I chose a course on the map

Where are you going, my friend? Read the stars like the 3 wise men. Any port in a storm. Mead be with you and behold the stars. God is good.

That's just too nautically technical for me, Rick. Maybe National Geographic has gone left. I hate to be naughty, but I thought it might be pleasant if the pole was racing towards Russia, ...well I always thought the pole was above the center of hot molten mass- HELL. If hell get's near to Russia- the magnets are likely to attract, and a hole will open up in the earths crust and swallow up whole all the bad guys to hell. Then there will be peace on earth. Happy & gooey new year!

[American Patriot]

Where are you going, my friend? Read the stars like the 3 wise men. Any port in a storm. Mead be with you and behold the stars. God is good.

That's just too nautically technical for me, Rick. Maybe National Geographic has gone left. I hate to be naughty, but I thought it might be pleasant if the pole was racing towards Russia, ...well I always thought the pole was above the center of hot molten mass- HELL. If hell get's near to Russia- the magnets are likely to attract, and a hole will open up in the earths crust and swallow up whole all the bad guys to hell. Then there will be peace on earth. Happy & gooey new year!

Hahaha

I don't think Hell lives somewhere other than below the surface of the Earth haha