“Uncharted Shifts: The Surprising Truth Behind Earth’s Magnetic North Pole Movement and Its Hidden Implications”
The Consequences Of Earth’s Magnetic North Pole Shifting
Christopher Michel/FlickrA nuclear powered icebreaker traverses the North Pole.
While scientists work to pinpoint the reason for the magnetic north pole’s strange behavior, navigation-reliant industries around the world are scrambling to update their systems.
“Major airlines will upgrade the navigation software across their entire fleets of aircraft to load in the new model, and militaries in NATO will need to upgrade software in a huge number of complex navigation systems across all kinds of equipment,” Brown told CNN.
Without the update, companies risk navigational errors that could cost millions. As the British Geological Survey explained just before Christmas 2024, using Santa Claus as their tongue-in-cheek example but nevertheless invoking accurate measurements:
Imagine someone was planning to travel by sleigh from a chimney top in South Africa to a snow covered-roof in the UK, a journey of around 8500 km (5281 miles). Using the previous WMM and setting off just one degree off-course, he would end up approximately 150 km (93.2) away from where he should. With a margin of error of only a few inches between chimney flues, this could cause significant issues.
One silver lining is that the previous WMM included an accurate model for 2025, giving companies that depend on precise navigation time to prepare for the shift. The main concern, however, is that the increasingly erratic behavior of the magnetic north pole’s movement could lead to significant problems in the coming decades.
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