It’s not your compass that’s acting up: The ‘magnetic north’ just changed

With the end of the US government shutdown, the wait for a new north is over. The updated version of the World Magnetic Model, which is the foundation of many navigation systems, was finally officially released on Monday and the magnetic north can again be precisely located for people around the world.

To understand what just happened, let us begin with understanding what the magnetic north is?

It is one of the three “north poles” on our globe. First, there's true north, which is the northern end of the axis on which our planet turns. A National Geographic post explains, the magnetic north is what your compass locates, which is defined as the point at which magnetic field lines point vertically down. “Unlike the geomagnetic north, this position is more susceptible to the surges and flows in the swirl of liquid iron in the core. These currents tug on the magnetic field, sending magnetic north hopping across the globe.”

In fact, the magnetic north has never been still. In the past century, the direction in which our compasses steadfastly points has moved northward, driven by the Earth's churning liquid outer core.

In recent years, scientists noticed something unusual: Magnetic north's routine plod has shifted to high gear, sending it galloping across the Northern Hemisphere; no one knows the exact reason behind this phenomenon.

The changes have been so large that scientists began working on an emergency update for the World Magnetic Model. But then the US government shut down, placing the model's official release on hold, as Nature News reported earlier.