Slashdot Mirror


As Magnetic North Pole Zooms Toward Siberia, Scientists Update World Magnetic Model (npr.org)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR: Earth's geographic north pole is fixed. But the planet's magnetic north pole -- the north that your compass points toward -- wanders in the direction of Siberia at a rate of more than 34 miles per year. That movement may seem slow, but it has forced scientists to update their model of Earth's magnetic field a year earlier than expected so that navigational services, including map-based phone apps, continue to work accurately. The drift results from processes taking place at the center of the planet. Molten iron and nickel slosh and spin in the planet's core, essentially serving as a metallic conductor for Earth's magnetic field. Changes in that fluid flow lead to changes in the magnetic field. As a result of those changes, the accuracy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's World Magnetic Model (WMM) -- a mathematical representation of the magnetic field -- slowly deteriorates in the five-year periods between updates. The next update was due in 2020. But "unplanned variations" have degraded the quality of the WMM so greatly that NOAA published an out-of-cycle update Monday. It was delayed from January by the partial government shutdown.

15 of 161 comments (clear)

  1. geographic north pole is not fixed either by iggymanz · · Score: 4, Interesting

    spin axis of earth drifts too, about 10 cm a year, caused by events that redistribute the earth's mass.

  2. Re:Time to update airport runways by NikeHerc · · Score: 4, Funny

    That same runway in the opposite direction is 30.

    I hope you aren't a pilot. The opposite end of runway 20 is runway 2.

    --
    Circle the wagons and fire inward. Entropy increases without bounds.
  3. Re:Dza Ruzzians are behind it!! by Tablizer · · Score: 2

    Not Putie this time, but by T's hair: Bigly static charge.

  4. Re:Time to update airport runways by Falconhell · · Score: 4, Informative

    Close, its runway 02 in aviation speak.

  5. Re:Dza Ruzzians are behind it!! by Brett+Buck · · Score: 2

    Uh, aren't the left the ones obsessed with nutty Russian conspiracy theories 24/7? With a little time set aside for impeachment fantasies?

  6. Re:OMg by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 4, Funny

    Only Norway has any significant amount of oil of the three Nordic countries.

    The Spanish Inquisition:

    Our three Nordic countries are Norway, Sweden and Finland . . . and Denmark. Our four Nordic countries are Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark . . . and Iceland. Our five Nordic countries are Nordic countries are Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Iceland . . . and Greenland.

    Oh, bugger. Among our Nordic countries . . .

    --
    Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
  7. Re: OMg by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Could you define them for us? It's a boring day at work and I need a laugh.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  8. DAMN RUSSIANS! by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 5, Funny

    First they steal Ukraine. Then they steal our election. Now they steal the North Pole!

    --
    Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
  9. Re:Nobody knows what generates the magnetism by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 4, Funny

    The truth is, there is NOTHING at the center of the Earth, because the Earth is hollow. I mean, I saw about it on the Internet and if it's on the Internet, it has to be true!

    --
    Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
  10. Re:Time to update airport runways by 6Yankee · · Score: 5, Funny

    That depends where you are. Merkins don't seem to bother with the leading zero, whereas here in Yurp we definitely do. Something about our socialist paradise creating jobs for paint-makers and number-painters, I think. ;)

  11. Re:Who pays for the paint and software updates!!?? by ceoyoyo · · Score: 2

    Runways are named by magnetic heading. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

  12. Climate by argStyopa · · Score: 2

    Here's a question: as the earth's magnetic field is based significantly on the location of the magnetic pole, the strength of any electromagnetic field varies significantly depending on the incidence angle of incoming particles (ie to exclude solar wind) has anyone studied what impact this shift would have on earth's climate?

    Looking at http://wdc.kugi.kyoto-u.ac.jp/... the pole has shifted 5x the distance recently as at the start of the last century. Does the northward shift of the magnetic field by 16-17 degrees with increasing speed track at all with increasing surface temps?

    --
    -Styopa
  13. Re:Nobody knows what generates the magnetism by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 2

    I can PROVE you are wrong:

    Nougat is made with honey and egg whites. Lizards love honey and eggs. Thus, if there was a nougat center, the lizard people who live in the hollow Earth would have eaten it all, instead of coming up and mutilating our cattle.

    Thus, it is complete proof - the presence of the lizard people inside the hollow Earth demands that it is not a nougat center. And referenced for you as well. QED.

    --
    Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
  14. Re:Map-based phone apps? by pi_rules · · Score: 2

    Have you ever noticed your phone can show your orientation on a map if you stand perfectly still and turn in a circle? That's not GPS. That's just a magnetic compass at work.

  15. Re:Map-based phone apps? by ChrisMaple · · Score: 2

    49.5 T is an enormously high magnetic field. Perhaps 49.5 microTesla?

    --
    Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate