Earth's magnetic north pole is hurtling toward Russia

The north magnetic pole has been drifting so fast that it could be a problem for smartphone maps and navigation systems.

The pole has been the friend of navigators for millennia, beckoning compass needles from virtually every point on the planet. And unlike the geographic north pole, which is fixed, the north magnetic pole has been slowly migrating over time -- moving across the Canadian Arctic toward Russia since 1831.

But its swift pace toward Siberia in recent years at a rate of around 34 miles per year has forced scientists to update the World Magnetic Model -- used by civilian navigation systems, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and US and British militaries -- a year ahead of schedule.

 

"Due to unplanned variations in the Arctic region, scientists have released a new model to more accurately represent the change of the magnetic field between 2015 and now," the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Centers for Environmental Information wrote in a press release Monday.

 

The model, which is commissioned by the British and US military agencies, is typically updated every five years, the most recent being in 2015. But the agency explained that the "out-of-cycle update ... will ensure safe navigation for military applications, commercial airlines, search and rescue operations, and others operating around the North Pole."

 

And while the model's primary user is the military, it has found its way into Google and Apple's civilian mapping systems. The difference will be minor for civilian purposes, however, and the changes are largely limited to latitudes above 55 degrees. "For most users below 55 degrees north, there is no real difference," Ciaran Beggan, a geophysicist at the British Geological Survey, which creates the map with the NOAA.

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