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Movement of the magnetic north pole is causing problems for aviation, navigation and wildlife

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Proud Mary

Sun Mar 06 2011, 07:54AM

Registered Member #543 Joined: Tue Feb 20 2007, 04:26PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4992

Adjust your compass now: the north pole is migrating to Russia
Movement of the magnetic north is causing problems for aviation, navigation and wildlife

By Guy Adams,
The Independent,
Sunday, 6 March 2011

It sounds unlikely but it's true: the magnetic north pole is moving faster than at any time in human history, threatening everything from the safety of modern transport systems to the traditional navigation routes of migrating animals.

Scientists say that magnetic north, which for two centuries has been in the icy wilderness of Canada, is currently relocating towards Russia at a rate of about 40 miles a year. The speed of its movement has increased by a third in the past decade, prompting speculation that the field could be about to "flip", causing compasses to invert and point south rather than north, something that happens between three and seven times every million years.

Already the phenomenon is causing problems in the field of aviation. Tampa International airport in Florida has just spent a month renaming its three runways, which in common with those at most US airports are identified using numbers that correspond to the direction, in degrees, that they face on a compass. "Everything had to be changed; it was a huge project," Brenda Geoghagan, a spokeswoman for the airport, said.

The current rate of magnetic north's movement away from Canada's Ellesmere Island is throwing out compasses by roughly one degree every five years, prompting the US Federal Aviation Administration to re-evaluate runway names across the country every five years. Similar changes were recently made to runways at Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach.

Geologists believe that magnetic north pole (which is different from the true North Pole, the axis on which the Earth spins) moves around due to changes in the planet's molten core, which contains liquid iron. They first located it in 1831, and have been attrying to follow its progress ever since.

Records indicate that the pole's location barely moved in the early decades, but in about 1904, it began tracking north-east at a rate of about nine miles a year. That speed increased significantly from about 1989, possibly because of a "plume" of magnetism deep below ground. The pole is now believed to be heading towards Siberia at about 37 miles each year. "Earth's magnetic field is changing in time. And as far as we know, it has always been changing in time," geophysicist Jeffrey Love of the US Geological Survey in Colorado told Discovery News, which investigated the issue last week.

GPS systems, which rely on satellites, have replaced compasses as the means by which the majority of professional navigators orientate themselves. But compasses are still valuable, and are widely used by hikers and other amateur map-readers. In some environments, such as underwater or beneath ground, which cannot be reached by satellite signals, they remain the only option. The oil industry, which uses magnets to determine which angle it should drill into the earth, needs to keep track of the exact location of magnetic north.

Birds that fly south for the winter, along with migratory sea creatures, could face confusion. Long-living animals, such as whales and turtles, may in future be required to recalibrate their navigational instincts.

Despite the cost and inconvenience of altering runway names, not to mention the indignity of losing magnetic north to Russia, inhabitants of North America stand to benefit from the changes in at least one respect: it will give them more opportunities to observe the aurora borealis.

No one can predict the impact of "polar reversal", during which magnetic north and south reverse, since one hasn't happened for 780,000 years, the longest stable period in the past 5 million years. Some geologists think we could be about to find out, though: they believe that the current changes to magnetic north could be the early stages of a "flip". But Mr Love says we shouldn't be too concerned. "Reversals typically take about 10,000 years to happen," he said. "And 10,000 years ago civilisation did not exist. These processes are slow, and therefore we don't have anything to worry about."

Sulaiman

Sun Mar 06 2011, 10:55AM

Registered Member #162 Joined: Mon Feb 13 2006, 10:25AM
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 3140

I don't really care where the magetic poles are provided they are not too far from the true poles and consistently strong.
What concerns me is if the overall magnetic field weakens enough to let solar shit come blasting through, or if the magnetic poles were near the equator allowing solar stuff to blast down on people.
I would be ok because I've got a tin-foil hat, it's all the 'normal' people that concern me.
In UK only about 10,000 homes are protected with aluminium foil lined rooms (cannabis growers) the rest of us may suffer. Time to legalise home-growing I think !

P.S. As a Muslim the reversal of the earth's magnetic poles indicates to me that the end of our world is near ( Koran : when the Sun rises in the West) which somewhat concerns me.

Conundrum

Sun Mar 06 2011, 11:33AM

Registered Member #96 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:37PM
Location: CI, Earth
Posts: 4062

hm..
Interestingly the current theory is that a big enough solar flare resulting in a coronal mass ejection could provide enough energy to initiate the flip if the field is already close to doing so anyway..

-A
(wonder if my balloon based magnetometer will be working when the next massive solar flare hits?)

Adam Munich

Sun Mar 06 2011, 03:11PM

Registered Member #2893 Joined: Tue Jun 01 2010, 09:25PM
Location: Cali-forn. i. a.
Posts: 2242

Crap, if the pole flips garmin better release an update for my GPS.

Ash Small

Sun Mar 06 2011, 03:56PM

Registered Member #3414 Joined: Sun Nov 14 2010, 05:05PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4245

Grenadier wrote ...

Crap, if the pole flips garmin better release an update for my GPS.

GPS works on satellites, not magnetism. See earlier posts.

Adam Munich

Sun Mar 06 2011, 06:25PM

Registered Member #2893 Joined: Tue Jun 01 2010, 09:25PM
Location: Cali-forn. i. a.
Posts: 2242

But mine has a built in magnetic compass IC...

IntraWinding

Mon Mar 07 2011, 04:26PM

Registered Member #2261 Joined: Mon Aug 03 2009, 01:19AM
Location: London, UK
Posts: 581

Is there much known about the actual flipping process, like how long does it take?

Nicko

Mon Mar 07 2011, 05:02PM

Registered Member #1334 Joined: Tue Feb 19 2008, 04:37PM
Location: Nr. London, UK
Posts: 615

Sulaiman wrote ...

...
In UK only about 10,000 homes are protected with aluminium foil lined rooms (cannabis growers) the rest of us may suffer. Time to legalise home-growing I think !
...

Ehhhem! If you have a house built to current UK building regs, most plasterboard will be foil backed.

I cannot use WiFi in the house now, even though its very old (over 150 years) as when we rebuilt it to current specs, each room is now a mini Faraday Cage.

I have 3 repeaters for the DECT phones as otherwise they won't work between floors and they are supposed to have a 300 ft range in the open - I barely get 10ft in the house...

And, no, we don't grow our own - though we do grow all our fruit & veg.

Cheers

JCM

Mon Mar 07 2011, 06:24PM

Registered Member #3559 Joined: Sun Jan 02 2011, 01:19AM
Location:
Posts: 16

Ive heard that a polar shift or flip can happen in a matter of hours or days althought the article says 10000 years. I dont know how that information came about but Ive heard it a number of times. Its supposed to cause extreme weather like 200-300 mph winds, that would be like having the earth sand blasted.

Conundrum

Mon Mar 07 2011, 07:58PM

Registered Member #96 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:37PM
Location: CI, Earth
Posts: 4062

Nicko, didn't they consider this problem when they wrote the regs?

I'm thinking perhaps cut some small holes in the foils which are twice the wavelength so that the signal gets through?

-A

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