Earth's magnetic north pole shifts its position and drifts towards Russia
A new report has revealed that the Earth's magnetic north pole is drifting towards Russia, just as it has been since the early 19th century, but at a noticeably slower rate, according to the Daily Mail, which is one of the strangest shifts in the Earth's magnetic field .
The geographic North Pole , which is the northernmost point in the world, should not be confused with the magnetic North Pole , which is the direction in which a compass needle points.
Unlike its geographic counterpart, it is not a fixed location, but rather shifts in response to magnetic activity beneath the Earth's crust. In a development that has puzzled scientists, this turbulent movement, caused by churning molten iron, has slowed to about 15 miles per year, according to the World Magnetic Model, which tracks the Earth's magnetic poles.
That's less than half the rate recorded in the first decade of the 21st century, and about 10 miles slower per year than in 2020, when the model was last updated.
“The magnetic pole has been moving very slowly around Canada for centuries since the 16th century,” said Dr Ciaran Beggan of the British Geological Survey. “Over the past 20 years, it has been accelerating north towards Siberia, increasing in speed every year until about five years ago, when it suddenly slowed to 50 to 40 kilometres per year.”
"This is a behavior we have not observed before," he continued. "It makes predicting the magnetic field change more difficult. In contrast, the South Pole moves very slowly. We do not really know why there are such differences between the two hemispheres."