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North Magnetic Pole Racing Toward Siberia
RogerRoast sends along a backgrounder from Scientific American on the best current theory as to why the north magnetic pole drifts. "The NMP, also known as the dip pole, is the point on Earth where the planet's magnetic field points straight down into the ground. Scottish explorer James Clark Ross first located the NMP in 1831 on the Boothia Peninsula in what is now northern Canada... [T]he NMP drifts from year to year as geophysical processes within Earth change. For more than 150 years after Ross's measurement its movement was gradual, generally less than 15 kilometers per year. But then, in the 1990s, it picked up speed, ... bolting north–northwest into the Arctic Ocean at more than 55 kilometers per year. If it keeps going it could pass the geographic north pole in a decade or so and carry on toward Siberia."
Will Putin's ambitions stop at nothing?
(Besides, a fast-moving magnetic pole screws up the UK's Ordinance Survey maps, which are magnetic north aligned.)
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
First Pole!
In siberian Russia, north becomes you!
The probable cause of this is a sudden shift in the tilt of our molten core. This would realign our magnetic poles.
But it may also be indicative of a bigger problem. There was a film a few years back which explored the possibility of a sudden loss of angular momentum within the Earth's core. Without the spinning core, the magnetic field would be lost and our planet would lose the protection afforded to us by the magnetosphere. Essentially, we would become windswept by the solar wind and would end up without an atmosphere, much like Mars.
The solution, the scientists in the film agreed, was to prepare several nuclear bombs which could be transported to the edge of the core (below the mantle) and detonated, thus restarting the spinning core. It seemed like a crazy theory, but with this sudden acceleration of the NMP, I think it might be wise to keep an eye on all of our options.
This is good news. Everyone knows that you regain stability by moving all your poles into the right hand plane.
On military tactical maps, there's a diagram for converting from grid North (straight up using MGRS maps) to magnetic north (where the needle points on a compass). It'll say add or subtract some number of degrees to convert from one to the other, and each map is different depending on where in the world it is depicting. Since many of these maps are several years old, I wonder what impact this will have on ground navigation?
Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
From 2009 (almost the one year anniversary) and 2005.
So... now we should be concerned because the magnetic pole is "rapidly" heading towards the geographic pole? Oh noes!
It is somewhat interesting that it is moving around pretty quickly, but it would be much more interesting if the magnetic pole was headed south instead; a little geomagnetic excursion from time to time is a healthy thing, don't you think?
On the plus side, the declination printed on all those USGS sectionals should be getting more accurate again...
...magnetic North points to YOU!
How about we just stick a GIANT MAGNET right smack on the real North Pole? That way, we don't need to worry about the "natural" pole shifting. Set this artificial magnet to have a different frequency than the earth's natural magnetism, so we can set our compass magnets to that same frequency and not worry about interference. (This will also keep this valuable asset from wandering into Russian territory.)
This somehow has to be our fault, right?
Imagine a rapid, global polarity switch...Massive Electromagnetic Pulse, anyone?
I've seen what happens when a rapid polarity reversal occurs. If you don't take care, the tachyon flux can cause an uncontrolled neutrino emission and cause a breach in the dilithium chamber.
The magnetical north pole is on the opposite side of the planet, close to our geographical south pole; a compass' N needle points towards the magnetical south pole, but as we use compasses to orient towards our geographical south pole, we simply mark the needle N.
north pole goes to you.
. . . Compass needles point towards YOU!
I'm sure MI5 could turn a polish spy into revealing something about his people. Scientists should think out-of-the-box for once!
Geekism is your _only_ God!
... north pole moves you to Siberia!
Have gnu, will travel.
Actually, the correct names are "North Seeking Pole" and "South Seeking Pole" shortened to North pole and South pole. The North (seeking) pole of the compass needle actually does point north. In the arctic, a standard hypothetical test monopole is repelled, making it north.
Airport runway numbers are actually current compass heading. When magnetic north shifts enough, they have to renumber the runways. So....
1. Shift magnetic north
2. Get contracts to repaint runway numbers
3. PROFIT!
build the shield from the movie with the aliens form zeist.
Yes the movie is so bad I had to hide the name of it.
Isn't one of the 2012 crazy end of days scenarios that the magnetic poles reverse suddenly? I loathe to go down that line of thought but it could explain it?
So the Poles are invading Siberia now?
What is this, a Soviet Russia joke?
..unless you are one of those deniers that think that the Global Pole Shifting wasnt caused by human activity.
Slartibartfast needs to fix this. This is what happens when you use untested software.
You just don't want to admit it. It's another inevitable byproduct of anthropogenic global warming caused by greenhouses gasses. That should be obvious to anyone. Expect the IPCC papers on the subject to be exposed by a whistle-blower any day now. Insiders are predicting that the studies will show that the pole is repelled by the stronger SOURCES of the gasses, but there is a lag effect, so it is only now moving away from US, and toward Siberia. In an exchange of email messages also to be released at the same time by this anonymous whistle-blower, two of the secondary authors are reported to have said "aren't these econometric models WONDERFULLY flexible?"
for the incoming flood of "in soviet Russia" jokes...
... now we should be concerned because the magnetic pole is "rapidly" heading towards the geographic pole?
Yes, because the magnetic pole being in Canada was one of the last interesting things about the country. What will they have left?
That is all.
If it's a good thing or neutral, it's just a natural process.
If it's a bad thing then we did it. We need government action and trillions of dollars sent to third-world countries in order to stop it. How that's supposed to stop it, I don't know. Maybe the mass of all those dollar bills in the Southern hemisphere will cause the core to realign itself.
fuckin' magnetic north poles... how do they work?
Government airport that can just lay more on the taxpayers to fund it?
Or private airport that has to stick to a budget?
55 km per year = 10.5 furlongs per fortnight
This is good news. Everyone knows that you regain stability by moving all your poles into the right hand plane.
What if you're Ukrainian?
After all, we all know the magnetic pole will flip in 2012, not in 2010 or 2011.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
So if it continues to accelerate, will it pass through the geographic north pole on 21st Dec 2012? :-)
Santa's having to spend all of his energy moving his workshop whenever the North Pole shifts. This screws up Christmas gift giving, which is a major economic driver.
Somehow this is all Bush's fault - and like everything else Obama's just putting Bush's policies on steroids...
Help save the critically endangered Blue Iguana
... sounds like it is moving SOUTH to me, not north by northwest.
now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
Regardless of scientific merit is being used as a vehicle to funnel money to various political pet causes.
Among the many north poles, let us rejoice that Santa Claus did not choose the magnetic pole for his home, for he would have to spend as much time moving as delivering presents.
One night, that is.
North Magnetic Pole rushes to Siberia .... santas magnet not pleased
The tags on this one "bushsfault", "obama", and "global warming" make me worry. The Earth's magnetic poles are KNOWN to reverse themselves. In fact we're due for one very soon. Sad, not funny, to see asinine references to political and non-associated environmental causes. Pathetic, really.
Supermodels Anja Rubik and Joanna Krupa.
They're very attractive!
Locations of geomagnetic poles and magnetic poles based on IGRF-11 from 1900 to 2000 by 10 years, and at 2005, 2010 and 2015 (prediction)
http://wdc.kugi.kyoto-u.ac.jp/poles/polesexp.html