Scientists, including researchers from the USA and Great Britain, published a new model that determines the location of the Earth’s northern magnetic pole of the northern magnetic pole. The new model shows that the pole is now closer to Siberia than five years ago.
Scientists told CNN that, unlike the geographical North Pole, which denotes a fixed location, the position of the North Pole is determined by the magnetic field of the Earth, which is in constant movement.
Geophysicist and researcher of geomagnetism from the British Geological Service, Dr. William Brown, said that large airlines will update navigation software on all their aircraft to adapt to the new model.
“The military in NATO will also need to update the software of many complex navigation systems for all types of equipment,” he said.
In turn, a researcher at the National Administration of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research of the USA (Noaa) Arno Chulliath said that with the latest update, scientists confirmed the accuracy of the forecasts of the previous model regarding the location of the magnetic north by 2025.
Scientists argue that in recent years there have been “dramatic” changes in the speed of the northern magnetic pole, however, the root cause of this phenomenon remains unclear.
Global positioning systems, including those used by aircraft and ships, determine the magnetic north through the World Magnetic Model (WMM). This model, developed by the British Geological Service and Noaa, takes into account a certain position of the northern magnetic pole and predicts the future displacement based on the trajectory over the past few years.
It is known that the North Magnetic Pole was discovered by the British researcher Sir James Clark Ross in 1831 in the north of Canada, about 1610 kilometers south of the true North Pole. Since the opening, there has been a displacement of the pole east towards Siberia.