Author Topic: Record Movement of Magnetic North.  (Read 819 times)

alan de enfield

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Record Movement of Magnetic North.
« on: 21:48:51, 18/01/19 »

January 14, 2019, 11:23 a.m.


Magnetic north shifting by 30 miles a year, might signal pole reversal.


The magnetic pole is moving faster than at any time in human history, causing major problems for navigation and migratory wildlife.

Whenever you hold a compass, the needle points to magnetic north near the North Pole. For centuries, magnetic north has led navigators and explorers around the world.


But the magnetic north pole is currently shifting at a faster rate than at any time in human history.

 

"It’s moving at about 50 km (30 miles) a year. It didn’t move much between 1900 and 1980 but it’s really accelerated in the past 40 years," Ciaran Beggan, of the British Geological Survey in Edinburgh, told Reuters.


A five-year update of the World Magnetic Model was due in 2020, but the U.S. military requested an early review, according to Beggan. The update was going to be released on Jan. 15 but has been delayed until Jan. 30 due to the government shutdown.



The changes are causing major problems for aviation, navigation and migratory animals that use the Earth's magnetic field to orient themselves. Some airports have had to change the names of their runways to better correspond to their current direction relative to magnetic north.

https://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/climate-weather/stories/magnetic-north-shifting-by-40-miles-a-year-might-signal-pole-r
« Last Edit: 21:54:42, 18/01/19 by alan de enfield »

ninthace

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Re: Record Movement of Magnetic North.
« Reply #1 on: 22:08:40, 18/01/19 »
For a less sensationalist link than that given https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-00007-1
Same story without the speculation.
Solvitur Ambulando

BuzyG

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Re: Record Movement of Magnetic North.
« Reply #2 on: 22:19:30, 18/01/19 »
This is hardly headline news.  I recall reading about the issues this was causing the aviation industry along side. Issues with older satelite. Clocks pre millenium.  I also realised as soon as I bought a new Dartmoor map, on my return to waking, that the mag bearing from the area had shifted by 8.5 regs, compared to my old map from 1981.  Good to catch up on the subject again. O0
« Last Edit: 22:24:51, 18/01/19 by BuzyG »

ninthace

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Re: Record Movement of Magnetic North.
« Reply #3 on: 14:56:46, 19/01/19 »
When I learned to drive one of HM's war canoes about, magnetic variation and deviation was bread and butter stuff as we still used compasses to get places and to avoid the hard bits (with a bit of help from Messrs Decca and Loran to be fair). Subsequently, in the RAF, when I flew for fun, I followed roads, rivers and railways but occasionally I used a magnetic bearing to find my next waypoint.   The variation correction was usually to throw in a tad of right hand down and fix off the ground I as wasn't allowed to fly in clouds.  Even as a spotty youth, when I started walking and using bearings I knew the theory but in reality it tended to be same principle, let the needle point a tad west of north and use geography to fix.  Nowadays, my compass never comes out and anyway, in the UK, magnetic N and True N are now so close together who cares?
Solvitur Ambulando

BuzyG

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Re: Record Movement of Magnetic North.
« Reply #4 on: 16:41:06, 19/01/19 »
Ironically I think one reason I still use my mag compass and have not switched completly over to GPS, is because mag and true are aligned from the UK at present. Makes life easier.

 

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