Recently technological advancement helps to trace this drifting with utmost accuracy. At first its trajectory of shifting was a bit meandering, since it had took a straight marching way, gradually increasing its pace, from mid 1970s.

Ever since this drifting pace is consistently increasing till date. Earlier on 1990s, the drifting pace almost quadrupled and reached at nearly 55 to 60 kilometers per year. In the last three years, it had attained a rapid rate of drifting which brought the magnetic north within 390 kilometers of the geographic or true north (90°N).


How will this shifting cause problems?

The magnetic pole is consistently heading towards the Siberian coast. Navigation system is fully rely on the accurate positioning of earth's magnetic pole. Thenceforth this tug-of-war game of magnetic field facing as a deep concern to the navigation system worldwide, whether it is for ship at oceans or mobile phone compass in our pocket.

As it is needed to have a clear idea about the mechanism behind it for the sake of navigation system, the United States National Geophysical Data Centre is continuously giving updates by incessantly tracking this displacement.


As stated in a research paper published by the researchers,
 “The wandering of Earth’s north magnetic pole, the location where the magnetic field points vertically downwards, has long been a topic of scientific fascination.”

They also mentioned that,
 “The importance of these two patches in determining the structure of the field close to the north magnetic pole has been well known for several centuries.”

Philip W. Livemore, from the University of Leeds, stated that,
 “Now historically, the Canadian patch has been winning the war and that's why the pole has been centred over Canada. But in the last few decades, the Canadian patch has weakened and the Siberian patch has strengthened slightly, and that explains why the pole has suddenly accelerated away from its historical position.”

Last of all, this means it is expected that this shifting of magnetic pole will go on in a long run, and still for now, it is not ascertainable that whether it might become stable or return back to its previous location.



Learn More :

Nature Geoscience | Recent north magnetic pole acceleration towards Siberia caused by flux lobe elongation [Livermore, P.W., Finlay, C.C. & Bayliff, M. Recent north magnetic pole acceleration towards Siberia caused by flux lobe elongation. Nat. Geosci. 13, 387–391 (2020).]

Study Probe | An Overview - True North, Magnetic North, Magnetic Field of Earth, Magnetic Declination and others

Special thanks to Kamalaksha paul, Author in studyprobe.
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