Where does the north magnetic pole move, and when the poles change places again

The history of the appearance of the magnetic compass is rooted in antiquity, and varieties of this navigation device existed both in China and in Europe. The magnetic compass was successfully used among sailors and travelers, until it was replaced by more modern navigators. And the thing is not even that in places of magnetic anomalies the readings of the compass should not be believed, but that its arrow does not indicate the North Pole at all.

The arrow of the magnetic compass indicates the direction to the magnetic pole of the Earth, and not to the geographical one, and their positions differ significantly. The location of the magnetic pole of our planet is shifted annually, and in past geological epochs, a repeated pole change took place. In addition, the north magnetic pole and the south magnetic pole are not in the exact opposite and not at the same distance from their geographical “partners”, that is, they are not antipodal points.

For example, the north magnetic pole is located southwest of the geographic pole, within 83-87 degrees of north latitude, and its location is constantly changing. According to Canadian experts who monitor the location of the Earth’s north magnetic pole, over the past decades it has shifted strongly to the north and left the Canadian Arctic. According to researchers, if the trend of its movement continues, it will reach the coast of the Russian Taimyr Peninsula in 25 years.

The south magnetic pole also does not stand still, and it is located even further from the south geographic pole than the north magnetic from the north geographic. The south magnetic pole is not even located on the territory of Antarctica, but beyond, in the range of 62-66 degrees south latitude.

But the position of the magnetic poles can change much faster than now. In the history of the Earth, magnetic field inversions have repeatedly occurred, when the north and south magnetic poles of our planet changed places. But this process does not occur in an instant, but stretches over several thousand years. As paleomagnetism specialists found out, the last change of magnetic poles took place on our planet about 780,000 years ago. Due to the natural remanent magnetization of rocks, scientists can determine the location of magnetic poles in a given geological era. The pole change does not differ at some periodicity and at the moment does not lend itself to an accurate forecast. Despite the fact that experts from different countries predict different dates for this event, there is no strict algorithm for determining the date of the next change of magnetic poles.

The very process of changing the poles, according to most scientists, is accompanied by significant changes in the life of the planet. During their change, an increase in the amount of incoming radiation is possible, which can lead to a change in climate and a partial extinction of flora and fauna. But since the pole change has occurred at least 15 times, and life on our planet still exists, you should not give in to panic at the sight of another prediction that a catastrophic change of magnetic poles is about to happen.