The Magnetic North Pole is moving – and it can play havoc with your smartphone’s navigation function.
A team of American and British scientists has released a new version of the World Magnetic Model (WWM).
This will legally move the magnet North Pole near Siberiafrom 1 January 2025.
Unlike ‘true north’, which is the direction that points to the North Pole, magnetic north is not a fixed point.
Instead, it corresponds to the earth’s electric current – and that’s where the compass needle points.
As of 2019, the magnetic pole has already moved about 110 miles (170km) at a speed of 22 miles (35km) per year.
And with the Earth’s magnetic field changing in more irreversible ways than ever before, experts say it may not be long before the species is reset.
Dr William Brown, of the British Geological Survey, said: ‘The current magnetic north is something we have never seen before.’
Scientists have revealed that the magnetic North Pole has moved south towards Siberia, which could play havoc with mobile phone navigation systems.
True North is the point on Earth where all lines of longitude converge on the circumference of the Earth, and does not differ from 90° North.
Magnetic North, on the other hand, is the northern part of the Earth where all of the Earth’s magnetic lines point toward the Earth’s center.
This means that Magnetic North moves from year to year as the magnetic field changes.
Dr Brown told MailOnline: “Magnetic north according to WMM2025 will be at 85.76 degrees North, 139.27 degrees East on January 1st 2025.
‘We predict that by the year 2030 it will be 84.72 degrees North, 126.07 degrees East.’
To make matters more complicated, the Earth’s magnetic field is not as stable as the lines around a bar magnet.
Instead, geological formations push and pull the magnetic field, creating massive disturbances around mountain-like structures.
These variations cause problems when ships or aircraft try to navigate with the magnetic field because even small corrections can cause large errors.
The Earth’s magnetic field does not line up with true north, which can cause problems for devices that use magnetic fields to align with it.
This image shows the latest version of the World Magnetic Model which is released every five years to calculate the difference between true north and magnetic north anywhere on Earth.
If you were flying 8,500 kilometers (5,280 miles) from South Africa to England, a deviation of one degree would leave you 150 kilometers off course.
In order to solve this problem, a group of organizations including the British Geological Survey and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are developing the WWM.
This is the most accurate model of the world’s magnetic field and has predictions of how it will change over the next five years.
This allows you to calculate the difference between Magnetic North and True North, no matter where you are in the world.
When you open the navigation app on your phone, the device will combine GPS data with a magnetic recording of your location.
The management program will log you into WWM to see how the section should look on your site.
By comparing this with your device’s measurements, your smartphone can determine where you’re looking.
Dr Brown says: ‘WMM is officially released today, ensuring users can have up-to-date information to continue to travel accurately for the next five years.’
Geological factors also affect the Earth’s magnetic field. On this map, you can see the vast expanse of the Appalachian Mountains. This makes this part model essential for navigation
Typically, WWM is released once every five years because that’s how often the predictions are accurate.
However, in the past few years, the Earth’s magnetic field has been changing dramatically.
Dr Brown says: “Magnetic north has been moving slowly around Canada since the 1500s but, in the last 20 years, it has increased significantly in Siberia, increasing rapidly every year until about five years ago, when it suddenly dropped from 50 to 35 km a year, which is the biggest reduction in speed we have ever seen.’
Things have been changing so fast that scientists were forced to release updates in 2019 to make navigation systems compatible.
Experts believe that this sudden change could be caused by the turbulence in the core of the molten Earth.
Earth’s magnetic field is due to the molten metal in its core, which lies between the solid core and the liquid mantle.
As the hot metal passes through the existing magnetic field, the movement causes electricity to flow into the conductors.
That force creates a stronger magnetic field that makes it stronger and stronger.
Over the past 20 years, the North Pole has been moving very rapidly before suddenly slowing down in 2019 from 50km per year to just 35km per year. Experts believe that this is due to the breakdown of the earth’s molten iron
This process, known as the geodynamo, is why the Earth still has a magnetic field billions of years after it was formed.
However, because the molten metal does not move naturally, the magnet can move freely in the Arctic.
Scientists now believe that there may be two large ‘slices’ of permanent magnetism at the boundary between Canada and Siberia.
The friction between the two blobs is causing the beam to move more than before.
Some models predict that in the next decade, the Magnetic Pole will continue in its current direction and will move another 240-410 kilometers (390-660 km) into Siberia.
If the updates are still fast, this may mean frequent updates to WWM to keep your mobile phone working as it should.
