The directions in compass are on flip: Earth’s Magnetic North Pole is on the move

 

According to new findings, the true North really was, nearly a year ahead of schedule. The magnetic North pole is moving about 34 miles (55km) a year. It crossed the international date line in 2017 and is now leaving the Canadian Arctic on its way to Siberia.

Geophysicist Arnaud Chulliat from the University of Colorado and lead author of the newly issued World Magnetic Model stated that the constant shift is a problem for compasses in smartphones and some consumer electronics. Airplanes and boats also rely on magnetic north, usually as backup navigation. However, he said GPS isn't affected because it's satellite-based.

The reason is turbulence in Earth's liquid outer core. There is a hot liquid ocean of iron and nickel in the planet's core where the motion generates an electric field, said University of Maryland geophysicist Daniel Lathrop.

Further, Lathrop said, the drifting is akin to weather and therefore one might just call it magnetic weather.

The magnetic south pole is moving far slower than the north. In general Earth's magnetic field is getting weaker, leading scientists to say that it will eventually flip, where north and south pole changes polarity, like a bar magnet flipping over.

It has happened numerous times in Earth's past, but not in the last 780,000 years. When it reverses, it won't be like a coin flip, but take 1,000 or more years, experts said.

a flip coming sooner rather than later because of the weakened magnetic field and an area over the South Atlantic has already reversed beneath Earth's surface that could bother some birds that use magnetic fields to navigate. an overall weakening of the magnetic field isn't good for people and especially satellites and astronauts. The magnetic field shields Earth from some dangerous radiation.