[Rockhounds] Earth's Magnetic North Pole Officially Has A New Position

[Kreigh Tomaszewski]

Just before Christmas, let's hope this doesn't screw up the deliveries of
the North Pole's most famous resident.

Hoping to keep tabs on the magnetic north's wandering ways, the World
Magnetic Model 2025 has been released this week, revealing the latest
official predicted placement of Earth's magnetic fields. This version will
remain valid until late 2029, during which time we can expect to see the
magnetic north pole slowly edge further toward Russia.

Earth’s magnetic north pole is different from the geographic North Pole.
The latter (the so-called “True North”) directly points toward the
geographic North Pole, a fixed point on the Earth's surface located at 90°
North latitude where the Earth's axis of rotation meets the surface.

Meanwhile, the magnetic north pole is an ever-changing point that’s
dictated by liquid metals sloshing around Earth’s outer core. These molten
metals are conductive and in constant motion due to the planet's rotation
and heat-driven convection. In tune with the principles of
electromagnetism, the movement creates electric currents, which generate a
magnetic field with two poles.

Since the magnetic poles are constantly moving, albeit very slowly, the
NOAA and the British Geological Survey (BGS) have to regularly revise their
models.

On December 17, they released the latest update
<https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/world-magnetic-model-2025-released>,
including the new World Magnetic Model High Resolution (WMMHR2025).
WMMHR2025 offers a significant improvement in spatial resolution –
approximately 300 kilometers (186 miles) at the equator – compared to the
standard model's resolution of 3,300 kilometers (2,050 miles) at the
equator.

https://www.iflscience.com/earths-magnetic-north-pole-officially-has-a-new-position-77286