North Pole is Leaving Canada

Dedekind writes: "CNN.com is posting this story on the drifting of the Magnetic North Pole. Not only is the pole shifting from a spot just North of Resolute, Canada, Canadian scientists expect it to end up in Siberia within the next half-century. Perhaps the most interesting part of the story (which really is only a small part at the end) is that many couples like to go to the magnetic North Pole to conceive their children. "

Comments

Effect on topo maps

[wiredog]

Most, if not all, topographic maps have the difference between True north and magnetic north noted on them. This is so that people navigating by compass don't get lost. If the magnetic pole is moving that fast, then the maps are going to have to be updated much more frequently.

Re:Effect on topo maps

[rehannan]

I don't know about you, but I would never go out into the bush without a compass. True, I may also have a handheld GPS unit, but what if it's batteries run out or it falls 200 feet down a rocky slope or I drop it in a lake? For something as important as navigation, never rely on just one device.

Re:Effect on topo maps

[Bonker]

Who cares about geomagnetic north with the advent of GPS?

Those without electricity to run GPS devices.

Say that you are in a non-urban environment somewhere, either a Boyscout on a trip in the Southwest U.S., a U.S. serviceman in the mountains of Afghanistan, or a deep-sea fisherman off the coast of New England. If you're lucky, you have a GPS device that tells you exactly where you are and what route you should take to get to where you're going. It's certainly safer that way, idn't?

Suppose that your batteries run down, or your generator breaks down, or the GPS device you're using doesn't have a hand crank. I bet you'd really like to know the difference between true north and magnetic north right about then.

Suppose the U.S. goes to war in the near future with a country who is not vastly overwhelmed by our military might. If I was in charge of a war effort in such a country, (China for example, which may happen depending on how we handle the 'War on Terrorism'), I would make a point of using missiles to eliminate the network of GPS sattellites in order to confuse and confound my enemies.

U.S. soldiers, pilots, and ship captains would *have* to care about Magnetic vs. True north at that point. I'm almost certain that standard field gear for all U.S. servicemen still includes a magnetic compass. Any of the Military readers care to confirm or correct me?

Re:Effect on topo maps

[fishboy]

yes, i'll disagree with you.

there are things that a compass can do (gasp!) that gps can't, like taking bearings off of other objects to figure out what they are on the map and the inverse, plotting courses from the map and sighting them to the real world.

sure, a gps can give you a rough arrow on an LCD display of which way to go, but a compass can tell you precisely (within a half degree) of the direction over a long distance in very little time. who wants to keep looking at the gps all the time? with a compass, sight once, walk or canoe several kilometres, sight again.

and it's technology overload. in most circumstances a compass is more than enough and does the job faster with the same (necessary) accuracy. i don't *need* to know within a metre where i am, i only need to know within a hundred metres, and even that is overkill sometimes.

i also believe that the gps offers a false sense of security, that people believe that they won't be able to get lost without it.

and then there's the whole nature/tech separation which is the whole reason people go outside in the first place, to get away from the gadgets. i don't even like tripping with my watch.

my two cents. i'm sure they have a billion applications.

Re:Effect on topo maps

[guyo26]

As a former light infantryman in the 10th Mountain Division [you may have heard of them recently] I can say with absoulte conviction that GPS is a hunk of crap.

Yes, we had them, no they were not accurate enough. Several times we took a GPS reading to a KNOWN location. Known as in to 8 digits. For those who don't know what that means, here's a link:
http://www.adtdl.army.mil/cgi-bin/atdl.dll/ fm/3-25 .26/toc.htm

The GPS was consistently off by at least 30 meters. That may not sound like a lot, but when you are calling for direct fire, 30 meters is the difference between wiping out the enemy and wiping out your squad or platoon.

Yes, the lensatic compass is still standard issue: http://www.rangerjoes.com/catalog/selection.cfm?ca tegory=main&id=795

The biggest reason why people wash out of military schools is LandNav [well, and PT I guess]. No combat soldier trusts his luck to a contraption that may/may not be accurate.

Of course this doesn't apply to helicopter pilots and others. And also it doesn't apply to desert regions like Iraq [see Bravo Two Zero for an example of a GPS must]. But for day to day use I'll take my lensatic compass over a GPS in a heartbeat.

Re:Effect on topo maps

[payslee]

To join the objections bandwagon: My biggest issue with GPS is that it doesn't work reliably under tree cover or in canyons, something most manufacturers don't go out of their way to advertise. In the Pacific Northwest, where I do most of my hiking, this means GPS isn't that useful. I mean, it can be sort of fun, and you can download maps and see a little "X marks the spot" right on the trail where you're standing, but I would *never* leave my compass at home.

My favorite example of this was a 4 day outing I did last summer. Two of my friends brought their new GPS toys to play with, and were placing bets on which was better. Due to terrain and heavy tree cover, they were only able to get a reading from one spot the first day. Two spots on the second, and from nowhere (except the parking lot) on the last two days.

Map and compass are easy to master, cheap, always reliable, and weigh less than two ounces. Sure, you can bring your GPS, but I'm still not leaving my compass at home.

Re:Effect on topo maps

[Alsee]

The GPS was consistently off by at least 30 meters. That may not sound like a lot, but when you are calling for direct fire, 30 meters is the difference between wiping out the enemy and wiping out your squad or platoon.

...I'll take my lensatic compass over a GPS in a heartbeat.

I'm sure your squad will rest easy knowing you are calling for direct fire based on your compass with better than 30 meters precision.

-

that's not bad

[laserjet]

This is just a natural movement of the pole, that's what it does.

Does anyone else remember from college how the poles just flip every million years or so, and no one really knows why? That whay *I* am worried about. the poles moving just a little bit is fine with me.

but if the poles just flipped, imagine what chaos it would cause. Would we have to relabel all the maps that are made? Many airplanes could not fly (with older instrumentation). Thankfully, GPS should still work..

Here's the main point of the article for those too lazy to click and read:

If the pole follows its present course, it will pass north of Alaska and arrive in Siberia in a half century, but Newitt cautioned that such predictions could prove wrong. "Although it has been moving north or northwest for a hundred years, it is not going to continue in that direction forever. Its speed has increased considerably during the past 25 years, and it could just as easily decrease a few years from now," the geophysicist said. The erratic pole can jump around considerably each day, but migrates on average about 10 kilometers to 40 kilometers each year.

Re:that's not bad

[Fweeky]

> Does anyone else remember from college how the poles just flip every million years or so

No, that was far too advanced for my college :)

I'm not so bothered by it flipping; I'm bothered by the suggestions that in the process of flipping the field weakens and practically disappears.

It's one thing to think "N is S, and S is now N", it's quite another to think "my compass is useless, and I'm probably going to get cancer from the next solar mass ejection because there's no magnetic field to offset all those high energy particles".

Re:Hm...

[gilroy]

Blockquoth the poster:

I just wonder what makes people think that the pole is special enough so that they want to conceive their children there.

Magnetic fields, like electric fields, are the modern equivalent of leprechauns, fairies, and demons. For the typical layperson, they are invisible, subtle, and inexplicable. The people going to the North Pole to conceive are the spiritual descendants of those who waited on midsummer's eve in the sacred grove. Since it's something they can't see and don't understand, it must be powerful.