North Magnetic Pole is moving quickly toward Siberia

Earth’s northern magnetic pole is moving quickly away from the Canadian Arctic toward Siberia.

A new and updated version of the World Magnetic Model (WMM) is released every five years. This movement has forced NCEI’s scientists to update the WMM mid-cycle. With the last release in 2015, the next version is scheduled for release at the end of 2019.

Above, this map shows the location of the north magnetic pole (white star) and the magnetic declination (contour interval 2 degrees) at the beginning of 2019. Credit NOAA NCEI/CIRES.

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.

Credit NOAA NCEI

This out-of-cycle update before next year’s official release of WMM2020 will ensure safe navigation for military applications, commercial airlines, search and rescue operations, and others operating around the North Pole.

source NOAA