Magnetic North vs Geographic (True) North Pole
“Standing exactly on the North Pole, which direction would the compass point?”
The Story of the Explorer’s Compass
Imagine. You are an explorer standing exactly on the North Pole.
It’s been a long journey and it’s freezing cold.
You pull out your compass.
What direction would the needle on the compass point?
The answer may not be what you think.
In order to answer this question, you will have to understand the difference between the true geographic north and magnetic north.
Because these two north locations are completely different.
What is the Geographic (True) North Pole?
The Earth rotates on the geographic north and south poles. The geographic north and south poles are where lines of longitude (meridians) converge in the north. The south and north poles are directly opposite to one another.
The North Pole is located in the middle of the Arctic Ocean. Scientists have tried marking the North Pole. Because the water here is permanently covered with moving sea ice, it’s practically impossible to construct any type of permanent station at the true North Pole.
On the other side of the Earth, the South Pole lies on a continental land mass known as Antarctica. Because the ice on top of Antarctica moves only a few meters a year, the United States Antarctica program has installed a marker here to delineate the true South Pole.
What is the Magnetic North Pole?
The Earth is one big magnet. The Magnetic North Pole (also known as the North Dip Pole) is a point on Ellesmere Island in Northern Canada where the northern lines of attraction enter the Earth.
A compass needle rests freely in its casing so it can maneuver itself. When you pull out a compass, it aligns itself with the Earth’s magnetic field. The small magnetic pin is how a compass responds to Earth’s magnetism.
This means that a compass needle will point to the Magnetic North Pole – which is different from the geographic north.
But how much of a difference is the magnetic north vs. geographic north?
Where are the Magnetic North Pole and Geographic North Pole?
The question is:
Where would a compass needle point if you were standing on the true North Pole?
If you were standing on the geographic north pole holding your compass, it would point towards northern Canada at Ellesmere Island. This is a difference of about 500 kilometers between the Geographic North and Magnetic North poles!
This difference is called the magnetic inclination. Magnetic deviation is the error of a compass needle including nearby metallic objects.
Magnetic inclination varies according to where you are located on the globe. In order to point you in the right direction, users can compensate for magnetic inclination by using charts of declination or local calibration.
The difference today is about 500 kilometers. But the Magnetic North Pole is actually moving kilometers every year. This phenomenon is known as the Polar Shift Theory.
Polar Shift Theory: Earth’s Ever-Changing Magnetic North Pole
The world we live in is dynamic. Earth is changing every day.
Plate tectonics push continents apart, sea levels fluctuate up and down, and volcanoes erupt discharging ash and smoke…
These are examples of natural phenomena that occur in cycles and are dynamic on our planet. The location of our magnetic north is really no different.
Over the last 150 years, the magnetic pole has crept north over 1000 kilometers. Scientists suggest it migrates about 10 kilometers yearly and can even flip from pole to pole. Several years ago, the speed had accelerated to about 40 kilometers per year and could reach Siberia in a few decades.
NOAA’s historical declination map shows lines of constant magnetic declination (isogonic lines). Isogonic lines indicate what direction compass needles will point – along the lines of magnetic force.
Polar Reversals: South-Pole Pointing Compass
Imagine your compass pointing south instead of north. If you were alive to see it 800,000 years ago, it would have been the Magnetic South Pole.
It takes 200,000 to 300,000 years for Earth’s magnetic field to flip polarity. Flipping polarity means the lines of attraction that enter the Earth would flip north to the south pole, or vice versa.
This means that it has been twice that long since the last reversal. Some believe we are long overdue for a pole reversal.
But there’s really no need to panic:
NASA scientists say a reversal happens over hundreds or thousands of years. It’s not exactly a clean backflip that happens like a flick of a switch.
Why Does the Earth Have a Magnetic Field in the First Place?
Geophysicists believe Earth’s magnetic field presence is because of what’s inside Earth.
The Earth consists of a solid iron core. Surrounding the iron core is an ocean of hot, liquid metal. The liquid metal that flows in Earth’s core creates electrical currents, which in turn create our magnetic field.
Unlike a solid fridge magnet, the liquid metal surrounding the inner core moves freely. This explains why the magnetic pole can migrate.
Although geophysicists cannot measure the inner core directly, this is why there is a strong belief that the matter governing Earth’s magnetic field moves around.
Magnets, Compasses, and North Bearings
The Geographic North Pole differs from the Magnetic North Pole by about 500 kilometers.
The Geographic North Pole is where lines of longitudes converge into what we call the North Pole. The Magnetic Pole is a point in Northern Canada where the northern lines of attraction enter the Earth.
A compass needle will point to the direction of the Magnetic North Pole. But this doesn’t mean that a compass always points to the Geographic North Pole. This difference is magnetic inclination.
The Earth’s magnetic north is changing every day because of the hot, liquid metal that surrounds the inner core. It can change so much that the Earth’s magnetic field can flip polarity. This is called the Polar Reversal Theory.
Next time you’re out in the woods with your compass, don’t forget about the small magnetic pin that moves freely in the direction of the Magnetic North Pole.
The question cannot be answered precisely because an important piece of Information is missing. “Imagine. You are an explorer standing exactly on the North Pole.” Which North Pole, the Magnetic North Pole or the geographic North Pole? The answer in these two situations will be different. Unless this question was cleverly designed to address and explore this difference, this problem, as it is worded, is quite incompetent.
Everyone understands that “North Pole” without qualification refers to the geographic North Pole.
I was a Land Surveyor when I started my career and true North was less than 2 degrees off of magnetic north at that time in Kansas and now you are saying it is right at 16 degrees off of north. This with make a big difference the way Surveys are made today.
Like one new degree Surveyor tried new surveys with new more improved equipment and started planting new cornerstones in the ground for sections of ground and then if you try to use his corners you might go through some peoples houses so you just can’t do things like that as some of those sections were laid out with a wheel with a rag wrapped around it and they counted the number of times it bumped over the rag so the reason so many sections are longer or short due to missed counts or other mistakes at the beginning or how many drinks they had that day. Any you have to go off of the oldest corner locations and even if they are right you can’t use tremor you will be in trouble.
Bud—Regarding you first paragraph, if the 16 degree shift that you mention would be towards Kansas (your location,) then you should not experience any change in the difference between geographic north and magnetic north. However, if the 16 degree shift would be towards, let’s say, China, then you would have a larger difference between geo north and mag north than before.
Regarding your second paragraph, how many shots did you drink before writing it?
primero campanero,
You’re an idiot
When Scientists speak of theory it means they are guessing, or in other words, telling LIES on our faces. FACTS anyone can Research, Sense and observe are…
1. Earth does NOT rotate no matter what they repeat like parrots.
2. Earth has NOT a Globular shape.
3. The Magnetic North does NOT deviate nor change over time.
4. The Geographical True North is MAN-MADE just like the Grid North and all the Meridians for convenience.
5. There is NOT South Pole whatsoever.
6. Stop talking about Polar reversal and shift. It’s just Fear Mongering fed by Scientific NONSENSE.
7. Planes never dip as they fly and go along their specific routes.
8. Nobody talks about UTM and Local coords for fear to find out the many discrepancies between straight lines, chords, angles and arches over meridians like radii converging at one point. Do your personal maps, stop following fake maps when your GPS stop functioning in the middle of nowhere because satellites are also Fake and your ship may get lost and wrecked one day. Luckily you will find buoys, house beacons and 24 h remote drones near coasts acting as antennas for maritime communication having the right frequency.
Good Luck between believing NONSENSE and believing PERSONAL Experience.
Huh?
Right. And monkeys might fly out of my ass at any moment.
Only if you have put monkeys in ya ARSE!
You are absolutely correct!
You are correct.
This must be the Dumbest response ever posted.
How can someone be this dumb but still know how to type a message on the internet? I don’t get this. Can anyone explain this to me?
Well said! They tell us satellites are real, but can’t monitor aircraft over oceans…. Wtf!
Hi,
I’m a layperson and hoping someone smarter and more educated … wouldn’t take much! :) … can help me out (and apologies in advance if my question is muddled … trying to figure out how best to ask!
Say I’m using a standard magnetic compass, and I was using it to draw a straight north / south line thru me, and if I stood perfectly still for 1,000 years (and lived to tell the tale), how many degrees on my compass would that line have shifted? Alternatively, I want that line to shift one degree … how many years would that take?
I know .. .weird question. But … if would *really* help me out.
Thanks!!
Michael
The current poles evolved when the total surface began to split and as the weights moved and settled with the South pole as its weight wise flipped. No weight on North pole. The surface because of weaker fault lines sunk as water sought deeper areas. There are now seperate land masses as we see on the world map. With all this our Sun controls our universe as we first recognized the first wabble in 1909 and second in 1913? Which is the end of the recognized 105 year first double eclipse we experienced? Now we have lived through the second double eclipse 105yrs. from 1913 as of 2018 through 2022. Before 2018 the magnetic north pole quickly moved from No. East Canada to Siberia, closer to the actual North Pole area. Recent tornado in Nebraska and current Hurricane 2021 in Florida have 100 year matches in 2022. The recent Moon/Sun Eclipse 2018, 105 years from 1913 was over Norway? The second was 2021-22 near Italy. Moon & Sun gravity cheating high tides in Italy-flooding. Also the gravitational effect causing a circle of volcanoes 1st. Hawaii then Australia and in the Pacific Ocean as the wobble closes. World wide weight redistribution/balance and other effects. What might it be in the next double eclipse in 2123?
True north is the intersection of the Earth surface with it’s axis of rotation.
Magnetic north is where Earth’s geodynamo determines at that point in time.
A compass needle is a magnet. The red half of it is it’s South pole which points to our north pole.
Magnetic reversals do happen quickly. Instaneously as a matter of fact. But this is simply the term us geologists use to indicate when the north pole crosses into the southern hemisphere. All the same, it does this at a mind numbingly slow pace.
One second we have “normal magnetism” with the north pole being 10^-99m from the northern/southern hemisphere boundary. 1 second later it’s 10^-99m in the southern hemisphere and we are in “reverse magnetism”.
Nothing else changes. Just the poles moved 1 billionth of a lady bugs public hair meters from where it was over a 1 second period.
Class dismissed. ;-)
True north is the north star
Mohammed is correct. “When it comes to magnets, opposites attract. This fact means that the north end of a magnet in a compass is attracted to the south magnetic pole, which lies close to the geographic north pole. Magnetic field lines outside of a permanent magnet always run from the north magnetic pole to the south magnetic pole. Therefore, the magnetic field lines of the earth run from the southern geographic hemisphere towards the northern geographic hemisphere.”
Electricity & Magnetism student.
I have read all of the comments. Should these comments represent the education, knowledge and IQ of the average citizen, then this planet is in serious trouble.
This is totally wrong because the magnetic start in N and end in S so that mean north Geography is south magnetic pole
I notice lately every time a large meteorite or asteroids, Comets is coming our way the cats act weird, and also there are moon phases that don’t look right or in a different spot, others have noticed this also and we have big earthquakes reported at the same time around the earth!!
Also, you can now time some earthquakes with how deep they are… if you watch the live earthquake website, when a bigger earthquake happens (6+ or more!) in California or Queens Island /Alaska… there is a twitch felt in the ground caught this several times from connected seismic tectonics over here through underground tectonic possibly due to aggravated thermal activity with our own volcanic complexes!??…
Maybe a Sun flare waking up? Just wondering?
Wow! I love this stuff! But science is SOoo over my head! I’m just a novice, mind you. But I was just talking with my dad the other night about the world and all of it’s issues. But I was telling him that there is no possible way we were ever gonna travel off of this earth using tons of rocket fuel that we have to literally blow up into space to propel us forward. We need, like; two wheels spinning in opposite directions at hyper velocity to create gravity inside; first of all! Anyway; reading this I realize: not just gravity. But a magnetic field also!
Forgive me! For interjecting my naivete into such profoundly over my head subject matter. But I had an inspirational flash!! For a second!! And I couldn’t let it slip by!! Thank you!
I agree, humans will not leave earth and populate another planet in a significant way. Humans meant to be on earth. Elon Musk is just a kid at heart who likes to play with rockets. He knows we can’t do it. He must.
I want to be as helpful as I can be. Here is the last known location of the magnetic pole calculations.
Latitude: 82.51404
Longitude: 120.3630819
Where I enter the address to get a pinpoint location.
Source: Maverick Star. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vucKo6dFHM 17th October 2021.
To my previous comment… Well, It turns out that I am somewhat correct. How is it on the borders of Russia NOT Siberia.
If I predict it hits land, the REAL question is!?!
Will the tracking of this Pole migration SHIFT so hard it jumps LAND because of mineral deposits and other heavy metal interference= None knows OR will it just continue to regularly travel at an approximate speed of 5 >5.2 miles per month.
If I had to guess its general direction of travel it will head towards La Palma direction. You know where the earthquake is happening right now. (Hyperborea Region) Just a guess. You decide what you want, we all have free will.
Thank you for letting me post previously. You have my utmost respect. Greetings from Poland.
WELL WELL WELL. When I am reading this but I cant help but laugh. Any of you studied the Apostile Clock in Prague. Did you ever read about the times they tried to destroy it. How they try to fix it. Though we are unable to track the south, we can most certainly track the north. GPS is less effective OR does not work in the south hemisphere. This should start a few alarm bells. Pilots all know this but wont tell you. I cannot tell you where the Magnetic pole is just know its on the outter skirts of Russia right now on the baltic sea. Question we need to ask will the move continue further on to LAND and if so will this take a leap of over land and jump back on track to another sea location or will it continue on the same path at a steady course. This is what is driving the fear. If it is the first, this will simulate a pole shift event. Where Russia was once north may become south. NOONE KNOWS..! Not even I. Just so you all know the Aspotile clock is a full cycle of 25,960 Years. We just entered in to Aqurius, I say just, i believe it was the tabernacle cycle. I am not 100% sure on this but our time is incorrect right now due to many hands changing the system clock that we have come to heavily rely upon.
Does anybody know the exact coordinates for the magnetic north pole? Since 2015 haven’t been finding much. Hear is an example:
157.690 E, 86.415 N [Bing]
164.04 E, 86.50 N [NOAA]
156.786 E, 86.400 N [Wikipedia]
Every land surveyor knows that Geographic poles and Magnetic poles are different. Geographical poles have been marked in accordance with the direction of rising of Sun named East and other directions decided based on same. Scientists found out that magnet acts differently due to the magnetic effect of the earth. Till today nobody is certain whether reversal will be sudden or by faster motion than the present one. Speed may change to even faster day by day. Let scientists observe it closely as a reversal of magnetic poles is overdue as believed by some.
The literature is all over the place on some aspects of this subject. Sorely needed is a reliable source on the different issues concerning earth magnetic field
Truly very helpful and worth reading
This is November 20, 2020. A few years ago, my wife and I were traveling from Albuquerque, NM, north to the State Capital, Santa Fe, which is some 50 miles way. At the south “boundary” of the city of Santa Fe is an old horse race track. As we drove past that location, the compass on my dashboard, that is encased in oil, began to spin slowly., then faster until spinning quite fast… As we continued to drive further north, the spinning slowed and then settled back to north. which was the direction we were going… WHY DID IT START SPINNING? AND THEN STOP AFTER TRAVELING ABOUT ONE MILE..? Thanks for any response….
In this article [Magnetic North vs Geographic (True) North Pole],You put: “The geographic north and south poles are where lines of longitude (meridians) converge in the north.” I get confused here – why the lines of longitude converge in the north only? Is there an error here? I think it should be put instead, “The geographic north and south poles are where lines of longitude (meridians) converge in.”
This article is very, very poor and should be taken down.
Firstly, it appears to confuse magnetic inclination (ie. dip) with magnetic declination. One is vertical and one is horizontal.
Secondly, it says that, “a compass needle will point to the Magnetic North Pole”. That is not true. It will “align itself with the Earth’s magnetic field” which is completely different. Take Seattle for example. The Magnetic North Pole as of today is above Siberia (86.5°N, 164°E). This is obviously to the West of Seattle. But a compass in Seattle will point 15.55° to the East of true North. Have a look at any map of magnetic declination and you’ll see that the isogonic lines of the Earth’s magnetic field twist and turn all over the place.
@JT Allyn, I am more concerned with the fact that the deteriorating magnetic field allows more and more solar and cosmic radiation to bombard the Earth. Have you seen the stats on rapid rise of cancer patients?
I have read how the each switched poles (north for south, south for north) long ago and that they expect it will happen again.
My question is, when do we expect that to happen next?
The Earth is Tilting / Tipping . It’s very simple to figure out once you know how to control your balance with Nature .
The earth is doing no such thing.
I am stunned by the pitiful ignorance displayed in many of these posts. Please folks go back to the 5th grade and try to learn something!
I suggest you read or watch interviews of admiral bryd. It makes you wonder what the truth really is and why all the interest in things that don’t matter.
None of the comments discuss the rapidly decaying nature of the earth’s magnetic field. Since it has reduced its energy by half in less than 1500 years, I would be interested to hear what scientists think we’ll do for navigation once it’s gone… Which also begs the question: If the earth really is 4.5-or-so-billion years old, why does it still have a magnetic field at all? Anyone?
Not correct. It has decreased by 30% in 3000 years.
Plastic(noun), the substance, is only so called because it is, either permanently or at some point during its manufacture, plastic(adjective). Plastic as an adjective has been around for much longer, meaning malleable, which is why plastic is so called for short, having many different types with long unmemorable names.
Having said that, humans are now adding a plastic(noun) layer to the earth’s crust, including the bottom of the oceans as well as their surfaces. Long term, that is probably more harmful than climate change, which I doubt is caused by humans though certainly exacerbated by them.
Us humans will never have control of the North magnetic . The massive vortex force above us will see to that and we will have to accept that as years go on there will be a surprise where as the poles do flip . Once the gift of sound and vision is reached not many will understand.
Has anyone noticed, the illustration showing the earth’s cores indicates the top mantle layer is “Plastic”????
The rigid lithosphere sits on a layer called the “asthenosphere”. It’s composition is a plastic-like fluid, which tectonic plates ride on top of. It’s from mantle convection currents where magma rises causing “slab pull”. This circular motion from mantle convection is the main mechanism that tears plates apart at divergent boundaries.
So, it’s not incorrect because there is a plastic-like layer. But yes I should have the lithosphere above it in that figure. I appreciate that for pointing it out.
I am mistaken. Alice’s comment is how I feel too!
I haven’t seen any comments whether the removal of billions of barrels of oil has affected the acceleration of the magnetic north which is now on the move toward Siberia.
To suppose the cause of polar shift, iron relocated by mining in Minnesota, and copper from Montana? Could have affect, so we should put it all back??? Silly.
Andromeda galaxy is closing on The Milkyway, our solar system crossed the equatorial center of the Milkyway 2012 science says. These are 2 possibilities for the changes around us, comfort by saying we did this and have power to change it is ludicrous.
Magnetic inclination is magnetic dip from the horizontal.
This article is incorrect about what “magnetic inclination” and “magnetic declination” are.
I am neither scientist nor writer, but thank you for an informative read, I may and most likely have this wrong, but here goes… true north is the point at which all longtiude lines meet? Was this location determined at the first magnetic north/South Pole reading? The true North Pole just keeps the world map the righ way up, in that instance for our human brains comprehension? My last thought, removing oil and gases (we use as energy) surely the fine mechanics of the guts of earth, perhaps need those resources to maintain the balance? For example, my car with oil or pertrol, the components in the engine cease to work! Could the removal of gases and oil, impact on earths rotation?
The pole moves? Why then does my compass point exactly where it has always pointed. The earth nor its poles are moving anywhere. This is just more made up non-sense. The north pole isn’t a place you can go and neither is the south pole. Need proof? Show me a video of a person standing on either pole looking at their compass and video this compass pointing south in all directions as the person holding the compass turns 360 degrees. Three people should be involved, the person holding the compass, the person recording the other person holding the compass as it clearly shows the direction and a third person recording the other two clearly not interfering with the compass. You will never see this because it is not possible. All you will ever see is excuses for why they can’t do it. The one thing that could easily prove that there is a south pole cannot be done.
If any of you hadn’t noticed? There are strange things happening solar system wide. The ice caps on Mars are melting, The Great Eye Of Jupiter is disappearing, our sun glows white now not yellow as in my past. Something is affecting all of it. There must be another heavenly body in our vicinity that’s passing by causing us anomalies. Climate change is made up. Carbon dioxide is what we exhale. The only answer to that is plant trees, electric cars, kill half the population. You don’t see any of those things happening in a panic. You don’t hear Russia or China talk about it at all. No they want to charge us for the air we breathe. That’s all that is about. If after 911 you believe anything the Governments says? We are in trouble!
Lol the part about a magnetic field flip taking somewhere between 200,000 to 300,000 years is just comical. Outside of its slow creep we see today, mind you that the North Pole has been moving much faster than this over the past few decades, what other evidence do you have to support this? There is so much evidence to the contrary and can be seen on every continent in the world. It can be seen in the geography of our planets, countless pre history ancient archeological sites show signs of it, our science today shows evidence of it, they have found Mammoths with intact flowers in their mouths from an event that froze them instantly. An event that occurs in semi regular intervals and that’s the field reversal. And all of them point to the potentiality of it happening in the span of a single day ! Look into it!
Oh,why?? Well, I hope you people know that in case of two magnets,the north pole of one of them,is attracted to the other magnet’s South Pole and vice versa. This is the directive property of magnets. Now, if i’m not wrong, in case of earth, which is a big magnet itself, the same will apply, along with a compass or a bar magnet hung with string; which means according to our compasses, the true North Pole has the magnetic South Pole, and the true South Pole has the magnetic North Pole.(this is because when we stand facing north with a compass in our hands,the red arrow,which is the north on,will correspond to the magnetic South Pole, and vice versa.)
I used “effect” improperly in my second paragraph and can’t edit my post. (It should have been “affect” instead. Effects[noun] affect[verb] us.) I also used “steady” twice in rather bad form, later on. Sorry, Strunk & White, I’ve failed you. Feel free to ignore the rest of my blathering, if that bothers you as much as it bothers me.
What a fascinating wander and shift this conversation has had over the years. Some interesting science, some interesting theories, some interesting anti-science, and some interesting cra-cray nonsense. :P
Water doesn’t hold much magnetic charge on its own, nor does it block or otherwise effect magnetic forces. The glaciers melting won’t directly speed up, slow down, or cover up or reveal the magnetic changes that come from deep within the Earth’s mass, not on its surface. Plenty of metal on the surface, however, so locally, glacial shift and melting could occasionally, possibly, tweak a compass by a small amount over time, especially if you were exploring the glacier area itself.
Conspiratists (conspirisists?) don’t get out much. They don’t fly planes, they don’t sail ships, they don’t devote much time to looking at stars through a telescope, and they haven’t been to the top of the Burj. Air doesn’t refract light in a one-directional way as to make the Earth “look” curved. It’s actually round! Do look up the MANY scientific ways YOU can use to see it’s round and moving through space very quickly. Far from a perfect sphere, but more perfect in texture and shape than your average ping pong ball or steel bearing.
Birds don’t have magneto-vision. They don’t “see” magnetic fields, they feel them, just like we feel up and down, thanks to the moving bits inside our heads. I also haven’t heard of Western birds flying -all the way- to either North pole. They generally stop in the bulk of Canada, where the differences in magnetic North are still pretty small. As was pointed out, that line of shifting points kind of points at California, so things down here aren’t perceptibly shifting around so much.
Penguins might tell another story about the wandering magnetic South pole, but just trill and squawk nonsensically when interviewed.
In regards to the molten core shifting the way Earth moves, it undoubtedly does. The inertia of our entire world, however, remains steady enough that those shifts are slow and steady, that we can scarcely measure it. I’m sure some nerd at MIT could show us mind-numbing science on this one, but it doesn’t significantly affect our lives, so we’d all get bored and start watching lolcat videos.
If you’ve gotten to this point with a straight or angry face, I’m so terribly sorry. This post was not intended to make light of previously expressed ideas, nor ideas to come afterward. Some of you are just wrong…and that’s okay, because, thankfully, it doesn’t significantly affect the rest of our lives, so the rest of us are going to go watch lolcat videos now. Good day.
The outer core being liquid and certainly volatile, would this movement not change the angle of the earth on its axis.
Hi all please could anyone clarify if Obliquity is factored in when establishing True North and coordinates? Thanks
I am a guitarist and my choice of instrument is a Fender Stratocaster, which has single-coil pickups. In those pickups are six magnets, all in a row which is part of what makes the guitar have its unique sound. As most guitarists know, guitars with single coil pickups are noisy, introducing AC hum especially when the amplifier is cranked up and high gain and volume is used. As you hold the guitar, and face either North or South, the hum is attenuated, because you are aligning the magnets in the guitar’s pickups with the magnetic north (or south) pole. So it is not the positional relationship of the guitar to the amplifier which affects the noise, but that of the magnetic poles. Try it; it works!
Sam Moe, you must be trolling. Obviously the sun would still rise in the same place if the magnetic poles reversed. The earth wouldn’t start rotating the other way. The only difference would be whether the red half of your compass needle is pointing left or right when you’re facing the sunrise.
I truly believe that this is a sign of being closer, each day, to the Day of Judgement.
When that flip happens (magnetic pole flipping), the sunrise would be from the west instead for the east. Have you thought about that ??
Obviously, the poles wander since they don’t have wives.
Have you ever watched one tie his shoes?
I often think about the birds who fly to the North and South pole regions. Unlike us humans, birds can actually see the true magnetic gravitational force. Therefore, it would make sense for them not to fly over the North pole area openings as the opening has a a force that would pull them in. There is even a restricted “No Fly Zone” concerning the North and South polar regions. Once you know where that is, you can reason where the true north really is. Because the magnetic north pole does move, you would think this to be true for birds avoiding flying in that area let alone planes. What concerns me about the changes in placements of the magnetic poles in the north is that it is shifting closer to home. It sort of reminds me of the black hole theory in space where matter gets sucked in with it if too close to it. Could this theory also be the case with the changing magnetic true North pole location?
Nobody has mentioned the changes in all our planetary bodies in last 10yrs (our sun this year has tilted by 6 degrees due to an unknown influence (if you believe NASA) these days. BTW this has nothing to do with global warming. Even our moon has strange changes going on. So our North/South poles are wandering heading in direction of Siberia, it was mentioned online somewhere that it wasn’t 44km a year now but much much faster. But true figures are being fudged again like what’s influencing our planets, the so called magnetic pole North/South shift was suggested to happen in conjuction with Nibiru/Nemisis fly around our sun again denied by Nasa causing the shift of poles and happen in minutes not years. So if this is true, airlines would have to make daily changes an be able to confirm/deny of its speedup from yearly distance to actual daily. Sadly I don’t know any pilots international or commercial pilots to ask.
I have noticed this winter especially, the Deer population has increased dramatically. I have seen multiple herds of Deer grazing around and also I have seen the Deer in the middle of town grazing on grass and twigs. They are not disturbed by the local residents nor the local pet dogs. The porcupine population is increasing as well along with more herds of Elk. As far as insects…. I have noticed more ticks the last 2 years and more worms and moths. The weather, the weather is definitely changing. It started snowing before Halloween and to this date the ground is still frozen hard and expecting more snow before the end of April.
The magnetic pole has shifted nearly 1000 miles in just 10 years, that is hardly 40 km a year. We can also see that there are now massive dieoffs of birds, animals and insects that depend on the earths magnetic field. We can also see the predicted increase in volcanic activity, earth movement and earthquakes in the last few months but no one seems to be paying any attention.
I seen in a previous post a person stated that I am no scientist. I, myself, am no scientist and I only post here to provide my own theory and hope that someone in the scientific world could tell me if I am close / in the ballpark etc. As for the flat earth I will add my own discovery! I was recently in Mexico on a wonderful vacation and the hotel we lodged at was amazing with rooms fitted with 4 foot clear glass retaining walls that overlooked the grand Pacific Ocean. Sitting on the top 24th floor I would gaze outward. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed that I could feel a definitive drop in elevation to my direct north. I crossed my one eye and kept the other eye to the West. Using the top edge of the glass retainer wall as a tool strait edge to my North with my right eye and my left eye perifialing towards the direct west, I could plainly see the curvature of the Earth / Ocean. I find it hard to believe that the glass was curved/ concave as it looked precise laser cut. I marveled at this site for the the next 6 days the slight differences in elevation, wondering how the ocean water retains its concave shape.
Back in Canada and just last night the moon was bright, not full yet however quite bright and the cloud matter was creating different shapes, with one long tail of matter reaching for the Northern magnetic. I welcome any feedback on my own theory’s and I enjoy reading all others that are posting on this topic.
Thanks
Somebody mentioned the moon. I have a theory that involves the earth’s gravity keeping the moon close and in orbit. My idea is that the moon requires (absorbs) so much gravitational force when it is in line with the earth and sun, there is not enough left to hold the ocean water as close to the earth, therefore the tide gets high. But that is just my wild guess. One day, the “flat earthers” will prove us all … ROFL Pardon me. I can’t even type it with a straight face
In navigation, a magnetic compass is considered as essential and reliable tool despite of the invention of modern electronic means of determining directions. But magnetic compass needs frequent adjustments because of Polar shift theory as well as errors caused by metallic objects. In some areas magnetic compass works effectively particularly around the Equator whereby directive force is at maximum (horizontal earth’s magnetic field) which is significantly different when you are in polar areas. In this case, the operation of magnetic compass depends on the earth magnetic field
What if all the ice melts? Will that make the magnetic pull stronger?
I should have said the poles are the machines and the tails of matter are attached to the poles. The poles are still the anchor points . Don’t mind me I sometimes think too much .
I have studied expression for some time now and I feel the moon has much influence on the magnetic pull . If you look closely on a cold winter night one can see the particle matter from the moon . These particles are pulled towards the north magnetic. The poles act like a anchors and the tails from the particles are the machines in which they are attaching and slowly pulling and heaving the earth into a rotation .I feel The stars surrounding the moon have influence as well . Old earth moving techniques are a simple way to explain myself . A deadman was used . Very dangerous however they could move massive amounts of earth in one pull depending on the size of machine one would like to use. Before machines horses or ox were used . I often find myself having to go back to old school to figure the simplest.
I may not be right however I keep wondering how we rotate and thought I would add my theory . The night was cold with windchill-40 and New Year’s Eve . Sky was clear ,moon was almost at full
PKM, I’ve thought about it quite a bit lately and I was surprised to learn that there aren’t that many differences between the heliocentric and geocentric models. Both are working models.
The magnetic poles flip approximately every 10,000 years as has been documented in the carbon dating of ice and rock samples all over the earth. and it does it fairly rapidly, within ten years or so.
The magnetic north pole is in northern Canada.
I’m not a scientist, just musing. What if the melting of the glaciers, end of this ice age, has allowed freer movement of the crust and thus freer movement of the magnetic medium at the core. 800,000 years of non reversal of the poles would have to be due to some sort of change or non change that has occurred on the earth. When was the beginning of the last ice age? Does this correlate with pole reversal? Fascinating subject. Thanks for the insights everyone. Including Bingo and his alternate input. Social insights abound when everyone chimes in.
George Moorman, you can go beyond pole shifts and consider EVERY effect possible, astrometeorology might give more answers if you’re willing to put some effort into it. As much as I know is that currently most common measurements and “forecast”ing is done by measuring spots around globe and calculating through computer models expected movements of masses which are final results of weather change but not causes.
How was the compass conceived and what are the particles made of? What about the compass that influenced its action?
Bingo, if the earth wasn’t moving, we wouldn’t have days and nights, or years and months and the rest of it. Think before writing on an educational website
I’ve seen so much and yet no one knows why the poles wonders.
When I was in the military our maps would show the declination between true north, magnetic north and linear north. This was done as to find our exact position.
I wonder how airline pilots compensate for the shift. Somebody commented even 5° on a 300 mile trip can cause big problems. Wow, never thought of that.
Tomi stated in Dec 2016 that “no one lives in Antartica..” There are military bases there…you can see them on google earth.
Tomi T, thanks for the wonderful explanation with your insights…
A Russian IceBreaker Ship found true magnetic North in 2017 and NOT where NOAA predicted it would be since their last verification in 2007, it has turned 90 degrees from their ‘predicted’ easterly course and has headed due south…jet to let y’all know. What I saw 2 weeks ago on a documentary…
I also think that the climate changes we are seeing are more likely to be the result of the moving magnetic poles than CO2 emissions.
Has anyone given any thought to the changing locations of our north and south poles affecting global warming?????
All very entertaining, I guess. However aviation has progressed beyond using the Magnetic NP with Inertial Nav and GPS, everything uses true north as reference. However to placate the aviation cave dwellers, we are still compelled to use magnetic references such as headings on charts and runway headings
It will sooner or later have all heading references to refer to the true north pole.
If we wait long enough, the magnetic NP will be in the southern hemisphere!!
In the mean time, Rule…… Variation (declination) East, Magnetic Least, that is to say that with easterly variation, a Magnetic heading is less than true and Variation West, Magnetic is best.
Aviation cave dwellers learn the RULE !!
I am living in northern Manitoba and just yesterday I was standing on a ancient gravel ridge and at that moment I had a feeling that to my direct north was at one time under water and to my south was high land. This of course was many years ago however… I had the feeling of being on the beach of what likely was the edge of the top of the world
Ok. Ready? True north and magnetic north. Go for a hike. #fact
The Earth is round! Go fly.
There is no actual ‘pole’ use a magnet do you see strings???
Bingo,
how come with your assumption of the earth being flat you actually have to say that ALL of the scientific research done over the past several hundred years is all false?
-You’d have to say that what people can observe via telescopes is false.
-That all the astronauts are telling lies!
-All the pilots that are flying around the world have conspired to tell us something different from what they actually experience when they fly to their destinations.
-And all of the ships captains are also sticking their heads together to tell us outright lies.
-And what is more, all of this would’ve had to be done collectively over centuries.
Bingo, you believe in fake conspiracy theories that make no sense at all.
Thank you Tomi T and everyone! The topic is interesting to say the least. Haha. Oh my goodness can you imagine when there is a flip and everyone thinks south is true north?
Reality is they are hiding the true North Pole from people with pseudo science. Along with the fact that earth is motionless and damn near everything else is a lie.
Michelson Morley, Sangac and USAF Silvertooth experiments proved quietly that earth is not moving.
So then realize this pole nonsense is a distraction.
They began changing maps decades ago to hide land. Now they just put fake ice over everything.
It’s bullocks
Tomi T Ahonen nice comment very informative. But there is a large group of people who are very effected by the variations of declination.
Pilots. True in California the difference between true and magnetic north is slight. But in locations midwest and eastern US it us 12° to 18° off. A magnetic compass is very important because it needs no electricity, it needs no calibration. But even 5° on a 300 mile trip can cause big problems.
So in the aviation community declination is a daily part of life.
NOAA what is the current position of magnetic north????????
Why does NOAA not have any data of magnetic pole in last 10 years?
Certainly educative, but comments helped me learn more. Thanks!
This helped me learn. YAY
The north pole, is in fact the magnetic south pole. Two opposite poles attract each other. That is why the compass needle point North.
I’d like to add some thoughts from own experience. I am a Finn who did a lot of compass & map navigation in my youth, at sea and in the forests in scouting and the army. We experience this phenomenon enough for it to be relevant to naviation. So a few points to help clarify.
First, the effect of the deviance is only significant in a few parts of the world where you might experience it. If you look at the image on the page here, that has the two points, then you can see, that if someone stands in Northern Greenland, and uses a compass to determine ‘where is North’ the direction that the compass shows – is literally EXACT SOUTH. And to get to the real North pole, from that location with that magnetic compass indication, you would need to travel EXACTLY EAST.
So in VERY Northern (or very Southern) parts of the planet, the distortion to the compass can be dramatic. Now Finland is the Northernmost country on the planet (when countries are compared measuring their geographic midpoints) so as a nation, we are ‘most affected’ by this in terms of distance from the actual North Pole (if Greenland becomes Independent as Kalaalit Nunaat then it would assume this honor from Finland as the Northernmost country). But even in Finland, the typical error for a compass pointing North, and True North is something like 6% to 11% depending on where you are in FInland (effect is strongest in the North, weakest in the South). Now how many people live on the islands of Canada, or in Alaska, or in Norway, Sweden, Finland; in Northern areas of Russia, in Iceland, on the Northernmost island of Japan (Hokkaido) or yes the Greenland province of Denmark? If we say 100 million people that may be roughly the ball park (nobody lives on Antarctica, where the same phenomenon would also exist). But of the planet’s 7.5 Billion people that is a bit over 1% of all humans.
For the other 99% this will not really matter, except for the couple of Arctic fanatics who may want to explore the North (or South) Pole haha. And note, Finland has this effect in an exceptionally great degree, and even with us, the compass is ‘off’ by only under 10 degrees in typical situations (a compass dial has 360 degress so that is about 3% error).
We learn about this in school and we learn about it a lot if we get involved in compasses and mapping and navigation if in boating or scouting or any other navigation needs in Finland, plus of course we learn about this in the army (all Finnish men have to serve a year in the military). It is a real phenomenon but like I said, it only impacts the extreme Northern and Southern parts of the planet. It ALSO has a relevance limit by the East/West area. WITHIN the Northern (or Southern) Hemisphere, the FURTHER away East or West you are from Magnetic North, the more it can be measured. Let me show again with the illustration from the above.
Where the arrow points to ‘Magnetic North’ – if you follow that line South, to where the second big circle encircles the globe, that is roughly California. From California facing ‘Magnetic North’ there is no difference to real North. Even though the compass points to ‘closer’ than real North, both point GEOGRAPHICALLY in the same direction, into true North. The same would be true if you were opposite that point in Russia, in Siberia, then the compass would point ‘beyond Real North’ but the DIRECTION is identical with Magnetic North. So if you happen to be ‘directly South’ of where Magnetic North Pole is, or exactly opposite that on the other side, then there is no difference to what the compass shows and what is True North. But the further you move either East or West, so if you go the furthest East, you’d be in Iceland, and furthest West you’d be in Japan, those areas experience the worst distortion on the same latitude.
With this to add to my original guess of about 100 million people impacted, the reality is that probably only about 2/3 of those people are in both North-enough area, and far enough East/West to notice this phenomenon. Thats well less than 1% of the human population. But us in the Nordics (Scandinavia and Finland) and those in the Furthest East Asia, NorthEast Russia (Vladivostok) and Japan Hokkaido etc, they will yes, see a big difference in their compass reading vs real North.
I hope this helped.
Tomi Ahonen
In my day job, I’m a tech author
True, the earth’s mag. field is not a perfect bar magnet. There is much more variation in the field at other, smaller scales, including areas where North and South change by > 45 degrees over < 100 km in Australia. Plus, there is reason to think the strong North / South dipole changes to a weak four pole (tetrahedron) field in between field reversals. – Randal O.
This is part bunkum. A magnetic compass most certainly does NOT POINT to the ‘magnetic north pole’. Any reasonably accurate mapping of the geomagnetic field shows lines of force (along which a magnetic needle will align itself), and they wander about creating patterns significantly different from longitude – like lines. This is rather elementary.
Hello,
I believe “theory” is the scientific term for our knowledge of a subject at the current moment. The term “hypothesis” is used for scientific guesses still to be proven.
Thanks. Yours, Josie
H.Laldinmawia – Depending on which country you live, you either subtract or add the magnetic variation if you are using a compass.
how can i calculate the exact true north from Magnetic north (pointed by my compass)?
The geographic north pole mark the end of the axis
The magnetic north pole is near but does not reach the axis
“the Magnetic North Pole is actually moving kilometers every year. This phenomenon is known as the Polar Shift Theory”
No, I don’t think so. You don’t use the word ‘theory’ to describe an observed phenomenon. ‘Magnetic polar wander’ would be much closer to the mark.
When was this article written? It is using very outdated images. It is showing 2007 at the last verified magnetic north location. With the number of things like the thousands of planes in the air at any given time I would think a verified magnetic north point would be simple. What is the latest verified magnetic north location? What is the daily variation?