Magnetic North Pole Moves Closer to Russia: What We Know

For centuries, the magnetic north pole tracked steadily along Canada’s northern coast. But in recent decades it has taken a new path, accelerating across the Arctic Ocean toward Russia’s Siberia province at varying speeds that have puzzled scientists.

The magnetic north pole is the direction in which compass needles point, not to be confused with the geographic north pole, or ‘True North’ – a fixed point where all lines of longitude intersect and which acts as the Earth’s axis of rotation.

Why does magnetic north move?

The key to this mysterious movement lies deep within our planet, some 2,000 miles below the surface.

“The magnetic poles shift because the magnetic field is an actively generated feature of our planet – the outer core,” said William Brown, a geomagnetism researcher at the British Geological Survey (BGS). Newsweek.

Brown explained that the outer core “is full of molten iron, convects and flows strongly, and generates an unpredictably varying magnetic field as a result.”

While scientists can monitor these changes, predicting future movements remains challenging due to the chaotic nature of these deep Earth processes.

BGS, along with other organizations, has geomagnetic observatories around the world designed to precisely measure the Earth’s magnetic field and locate the poles.

Brown added: “We’re monitoring the magnetic field to assess how it’s changing and how the flow of material in the outer core is changing, and then predicting how we think it will continue for the next 5 years.”

Where is the magnetic north pole currently located?

The magnetic north pole’s journey has shown dramatic changes in speed and direction over recent decades. After remaining relatively stable along the Canadian Arctic for centuries, it entered the Arctic Ocean in the 1990s and began its march toward Siberia.

The movement of the bar has varied considerably:

• From 1600 to 1990: Moved approximately 10-15 kilometers (about 6 to 9 miles) per year
• Early 2000s: Accelerated to about 55 kilometers (about 34 miles) annually
• Last five years: Slowed down to about 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) per year.

According to Brown, the south pole is much more stable: “The magnetic south pole has moved very little, covering about the same distance in a century as the north pole did in a decade.”

This movement is tracked by the World Magnetic Model, a collaboration between the British Geological Survey and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The model’s significance extends beyond scientific interest: it is essential to navigation systems worldwide, from smartphone compasses to military submarines operating in Arctic waters.

But where the North Pole will go is a mystery.

“The North Pole may very well change course — and/or slow down or accelerate — at some point in the near future,” Arnaud Chulliat, a geophysicist affiliated with the University of Colorado Boulder and NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, previously said. Newsweek.

This uncertainty means that the World Magnetic Model must be updated every five years. With the last version released in 2019, a new model is set to be released in the coming months.

“We really can’t predict well how the field will change beyond 10 years at this stage,” Ciaran Beggan, a geophysicist at BGS, previously told Newsweek.

“So I can’t say if the dip pole will ever reach Siberia, as it can stop and reverse in a decade.”

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Update 11/18/24 9:50 a.m. ET: The article was updated with comments from William Brown.