Magnetic North Pole
The North Magnetic Pole is the point on the surface of Earth's Northern Hemisphere at which the planet's magnetic field points vertically downwards.
The North Magnetic Pole moves over time due to magnetic changes in the Earth's core. In 2001, it was determined by the Geological Survey of Canada to lie near Ellesmere Island in northern Canada at 81°18′N 110°48′W / 81.3°N 110.8°W / 81.3; -110.8 (Magnetic North Pole 2001). It was situated at 83°06′N 117°48′W / 83.1°N 117.8°W / 83.1; -117.8 (Magnetic North Pole 2005 est) in 2005. In 2009, while still situated within the Canadian Arctic territorial claim at 84°54′N 131°00′W / 84.9°N 131.0°W / 84.9; -131.0 (Magnetic North Pole 2009), it was moving toward Russia at between 34 and 37 miles (55 and 60 km) per year. As of 2012, the pole is projected to have moved beyond the Canadian Arctic territorial claim to 85°54′N 147°00′W / 85.9°N 147.0°W / 85.9; -147.0 (Magnetic North Pole 2012 est).
Its southern hemisphere counterpart is the South Magnetic Pole. Since the Earth's magnetic field is not exactly symmetrical, the North and South Magnetic Poles are not antipodal: i.e., a line drawn from one to the other does not pass through the geometric centre of the Earth.
The Earth's North and South Magnetic Poles are also known as Magnetic Dip Poles, with reference to the vertical "dip" of the magnetic field lines at those points.
Read more about Magnetic North Pole: Introduction, History, Magnetic North and Magnetic Declination, North Geomagnetic Pole, Geomagnetic Reversal
Famous quotes containing the words north pole, magnetic, north and/or pole:
“Why does man freeze to death trying to reach the North Pole? Why does man drive himself to suffer the steam and heat of the Amazon? Why does he stagger his mind with the mathematics of the sky? Once the question mark has arisen in the human brain the answer must be found, if it takes a hundred years. A thousand years.”
—Walter Reisch (1903–1963)
“We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“When the Somalians were merely another hungry third world people, we sent them guns. Now that they are falling down dead from starvation, we send them troops. Some may see in this a tidy metaphor for the entire relationship between north and south. But it would make a whole lot more sense nutritionally—as well as providing infinitely more vivid viewing—if the Somalians could be persuaded to eat the troops.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)
“No exile at the South Pole or on the summit of Mont Blanc separates us more effectively from others than the practice of a hidden vice.”
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922)