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It’s easy to think of Earth’s geomagnetic poles as things trapped in stone (or ice), but both poles are not stationary and are constantly changing locations. Since scientists first documented this in the 1830s, Earth’s magnetic north pole has traveled some 2,250 kilometers (1,400 miles) through the upper reaches of the northern hemisphere from Canada to Siberia.
1990-2005 the speed of this movement has increased from less than 15 kilometers per year to around 50-60 kilometers per year.
A new study published in the journal Nature Geoscience suggests that the changes can be explained by the movement of two magnetic “clumps” of molten material on the planet’s surface, causing its magnetic field to change.
Earth’s magnetic field is created by rotating liquid iron in the outer shell of the planet’s core. The last shift to Siberia appears to be due to the 1970s and 1999s. There was a breakdown in the Earth’s internal flow pattern. As a result of the change, the Canadian cluster lengthened and lost its influence in the magnetosphere, so the pole began to slide towards Siberia.
“We have found that the position of the Earth’s magnetic north pole is controlled by two magnetic field patches, one after Canada and the other below Siberia, and they work by pulling the string to control the position of the pole”, BBC Radio Today . explained Dr Phil Livermore, lead author of the study from the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds (UK).
“Historically, the Canadian patch has won this war, so the pole has been centered on Canada, but in recent decades, the Canadian patch has weakened and the Siberian patch has strengthened slightly,” he added. “That explains why the post suddenly started to move from its previous position.”
The researchers came to this conclusion using data collected by the Swarm satellites of the European Space Agency (ESA). This trio of satellites orbits the Earth and accurately measures magnetic signals emanating from our planet’s core, mantle, crust and oceans, as well as the ionosphere and magnetosphere.
Observation of the Earth’s magnetic field is important not only in abstract research. The magnetic field serves as a shield for geomagnetic energy, protecting the Earth from harmful solar radiation. It is also necessary for many navigation systems, from a simple compass to a navigation system (GPS).
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