However, Canada also made Arctic news of sorts for a different reason this week, when it was reported that the North Magnetic Pole, which used to be situated in the Canadian Arctic until 2017 when the location veered towards the central Arctic Ocean towards Siberia, had recently shifted position much faster than expected. The news prompted requests by American authorities to the authorities which oversee the pole’s location, namely the British Geological Survey and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to submit updates to the World Magnetic Model (WMM), normally due in 2020, this month instead.
The North Magnetic Pole is the moving point in the Northern Hemisphere where Earth’s magnetic field points vertically downwards. The exact location of this pole (separate from the fixed geographic North Pole at 90ºN), changes over time due to conditions within the planet’s core, specifically the movement of liquid iron. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, the North Magnetic Pole has moved from Canada’s Arctic Archipelago, (in what is now Nunavut), to the central Arctic Ocean in the direction of the Siberian Coast.
What has caught many scientists’ interest however has been the acceleration of the pole’s movements since the early 1990s, from approximately fifteen kilometres per year at that time to approximately 55km now. Various rationales have been advanced to explain this recent activity, including interactions between two sections of magnetic field between Canada and Siberia, as well as a magnetic pulse beneath South America which occurred in 2016. Another contributing factor, according to a 2017 article [pdf], may be a jet of fast-moving molten iron beneath Canada.
Once the model is finally released, it would be expected to predict the movement of the North Magnetic Pole for the next five years, but given the surprising travels of said pole thus far, further study may be needed sooner rather than later.
Update: With the American government back in operation (for now), the NOAA released new information on 4 February on the Magnetic Pole’s location and trajectory.