Magnetic North Pole moves into new time zone at an unprecedented pace

The 2020 World Magnetic Model (WMM) was recently updated by the National Centers for Environmental Information and the British Geological Survey to forecast how the magnetic north pole has changed and predict where it is headed for the next 5 years until the next update. They found that the magnetic north pole has officially crossed the prime meridian.

Over the past two decades, the magnetic north pole has moved toward Russia at a speed of 34 miles per year (55 kilometers per year) but has slowed recently to 25 miles per year (40 kilometers per year). That speed was so fast that the WMM released an interim update in February of 2019 to ensure there were no navigational or operational issues with the difference of the true magnetic north pole and what the previous model used.

The WMM’s location of the magnetic north pole is used in numerous ways for everything from navigational tools like GPS to mapping services and consumer compass apps, not to mention systems used by NASA, the FAA, and the military, among other institutions. for navigation around the world.

Wandering and flipping of Earth’s magnetic poles is common and has happened many times in Earth’s history. But scientist say the current pace has is unusually fast and they do not know why.

The magnetic poles are a result of Earth’s molten iron outer core, which moves and flows as the Earth spins. These convection currents trigger electric currents and create a magnetic field around Earth which protects it from solar wind and charged particles from the Sun.

Currently, Earth’s North and South poles match the magnetic North and magnetic South poles. However, that has changed in Earth’s history when the poles flipped, magnetic south was at the true north pole and vice versa. Scientists can see these flips in rock records which fingerprint the current magnetic north location while the rock is molten.