Magnetic North Pole moving in way never seen before by scientists

British scientists have recorded unusual activity in the high Arctic — the magnetic North Pole is moving towards Russia in a way that has not been seen before.

In the northern hemisphere, compass needles point towards the magnetic North Pole, the location of which changes due to the shifting contours of the Earth’s magnetic field. It is distinct from the geographic North Pole, or true north, which stays fixed at the spot where all lines of longitude converge.

For centuries the magnetic pole meandered close to the coast of northern Canada. In the 1990s it drifted into the Arctic Ocean. It then began picking up pace, setting a course for Siberia.

From 1600 to 1990, it is estimated to have moved about six miles a year. In the 2000s it sped up to about 34 miles a year. Over the past five years, it has slowed to about 15 miles a year, a rate of deceleration not previously recorded.

The figures come from the British Geological Survey (BGS), which works with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to produce the World Magnetic Model, which predicts where the pole should be at any one time. Updated every five years, the latest version has been released.

The model helps to direct the compass tools found in smartphones. It is also used by the military to steer submarines through Arctic waters and plays a role in GPS systems. “Planes, boats, submarines, you name it, it’s in there,” said William Brown, the global geomagnetic field modeller at the BGS.

The movement of the pole is driven by unpredictable changes in the churning of the molten iron that makes up most of the Earth’s outer core.

The Earth’s magnetic field is generated by the movement of this liquid metal, driven by heat escaping from the core of the planet. Variations in how this molten iron swirls, some 2,000 miles below our feet, affect the field and the position of the magnetic pole.

“It’s like a giant cup of tea,” Brown said of the outer core. “It’s a hot liquid with the viscosity of water.”

Predicting exactly how it will behave is impossible, but the BGS is able to monitor the Earth’s magnetic field.

When Sir James Clark Ross, a Royal Navy officer and polar explorer, made the first measurements at the site of the pole in 1831 he relied, in part, on a magnetic needle, which pointed directly down towards the Earth.

These days, the BGS uses a network of ground stations and satellites to map the field in different locations. This data gives a sense of how the molten core is behaving.

A group led by Professor Phil Livermore of the University of Leeds has proposed an explanation for what he calls the pole’s “odd” recent behaviour. He suggests it has been caught in a kind of tug-of-war between two competing areas of magnetic force, one under Canada and another under Siberia.

The Canadian patch appears to have become elongated and to have split in two, said Livermore. This may have slightly increased the relative strength of the patch under Siberia, which would explain the pole’s drift towards Russia.

This post was originally published on here