The Earth has two north poles (geographic and magnetic), both of which are in the Arctic region.

Geographic North Pole

The northernmost point on the Earth's surface is the geographic North Pole, also known as True North. It is located at 90º north latitude but does not have a specific line of longitude because all meridians converge at the poles. The axis of the Earth connects the north and, and is a conditional line around which our planet rotates.

The geographic North Pole is located about 725 km (450 miles) north of Greenland, in the middle of the Arctic Ocean, which is 4,087 meters deep at this point. Most of the time, sea ice covers the North Pole, but recently water has been seen around the exact location of the pole.

All points are south! If you are standing at the North Pole, all points are located to the south of you (east and west do not matter at the North Pole). While the full revolution of the Earth occurs in 24 hours, the planet's rotation speed decreases as it moves away from, where it is about 1670 km per hour, and at the North Pole, there is practically no rotation.

The lines of longitude (meridians) that define our time zones are so close to the North Pole that time zones don't make sense here. Thus, the Arctic region uses the UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) standard to determine local time.

Due to the tilt of the earth's axis, the North Pole experiences six months of round-the-clock daylight from March 21 to September 21 and six months of darkness from September 21 to March 21.

Magnetic North Pole

Located approximately 400 km (250 miles) south of the true North Pole, and as of 2017 lies within 86.5°N and 172.6°W.

This place is not fixed and is constantly moving, even on a daily basis. The magnetic North Pole of the Earth is the center of the planet's magnetic field and the point to which conventional magnetic compasses point. The compass is also subject to magnetic declination, which is the result of changes in the Earth's magnetic field.

Due to the constant shifts of the magnetic N Pole and the planet's magnetic field, when using a magnetic compass for navigation, it is necessary to understand the difference between magnetic north and true north.

The magnetic pole was first determined in 1831, hundreds of kilometers from its present location. The Canadian National Geomagnetic Program monitors the movement of the magnetic North Pole.

The magnetic North Pole is constantly moving. Every day there is an elliptical movement of the magnetic pole about 80 km from its central point. On average, it moves about 55-60 km every year.

Who first reached the North Pole?

Robert Peary, his partner Matthew Henson, and four Inuit are believed to be the first people to reach the geographic North Pole on April 9, 1909 (although many assume they missed the exact North Pole by several kilometers).
In 1958, the United States nuclear submarine Nautilus was the first ship to cross the North Pole. Today, dozens of aircraft fly over the North Pole, carrying out flights between continents.

Our planet has a magnetic field that can be observed, for example, with a compass. It is mainly formed in the very hot molten core of the planet and has probably existed for most of the Earth's lifetime. The field is a dipole, i.e. it has one north and one south magnetic pole.

In them, the compass needle will point straight down or up, respectively. It's like a fridge magnet. However, the geomagnetic field of the Earth undergoes many small changes, which makes the analogy untenable. In any case, it can be said that there are currently two poles observed on the surface of the planet: one in the northern hemisphere and one in the southern.

Geomagnetic field reversal is the process by which the south magnetic pole turns into the north, and that, in turn, becomes south. It is interesting to note that the magnetic field can sometimes undergo an excursion rather than a reversal. In this case, it undergoes a large reduction in its total strength, that is, the force that moves the compass needle.

During the excursion, the field does not change its direction, but is restored with the same polarity, that is, north remains north and south south.

How often does the Earth's poles reverse?

As evidenced by the geological record, the magnetic field of our planet has changed polarity many times. This can be seen from the regularities found in volcanic rocks, especially those extracted from the ocean floor. Over the past 10 million years, on average, there have been 4 or 5 reversals per million years.

At other times in our planet's history, such as during the Cretaceous period, there were longer periods of Earth pole reversal. They are impossible to predict and they are not regular. Therefore, we can only talk about the average inversion interval.

Is the Earth's magnetic field currently being reversed? How to check it?

Measurements of the geomagnetic characteristics of our planet have been made more or less continuously since 1840. Some measurements even date back to the 16th century, for example, in Greenwich (London). If you look at the trends in the strength of the magnetic field over this period, you can see its decline.

Projecting the data forward in time gives a zero dipole moment after about 1500–1600 years. This is one of the reasons why some believe that the field may be in the early stages of a reversal. From studies of the magnetization of minerals in ancient clay pots, it is known that in the days of Ancient Rome it was twice as strong as it is now.

However, the current field strength is not particularly low in terms of its range over the last 50,000 years, and it has been almost 800,000 years since the Earth's last pole reversal occurred. In addition, taking into account what was said earlier about the excursion, and knowing the properties of mathematical models, it is far from clear whether the observational data can be extrapolated to 1500 years.

How fast does a pole reversal occur?

There is no complete record of the history of at least one reversal, so all the claims that can be made are based mainly on mathematical models and partly on limited evidence from rocks that have preserved the imprint of the ancient magnetic field from the time of their formation.

For example, calculations suggest that a complete change of the Earth's poles can take from one to several thousand years. This is fast by geological standards, but slow by the scale of human life.

What happens during a turn? What do we see on the surface of the Earth?

As mentioned above, we have limited geological measurement data on the patterns of field changes during the inversion. Based on supercomputer models, one would expect a much more complex structure on the planet's surface, with more than one south and one north magnetic pole.

The earth is awaiting their "journey" from its present position towards and across the equator. The total field strength at any point on the planet can be no more than one tenth of its current value.

Danger to navigation

Without a magnetic shield, modern technology would be more at risk from solar storms. Satellites are the most vulnerable. They are not designed to withstand solar storms in the absence of a magnetic field. So if the GPS satellites stop working, then all the planes will land on the ground.

Of course, airplanes have compasses as a backup, but they will certainly not be accurate during the magnetic pole shift. Thus, even the very possibility of failure of GPS satellites will be enough to land the planes - otherwise they may lose navigation during the flight. Ships will face the same problems.

Ozone layer

It is expected that during the reversal of the Earth's magnetic field, the ozone layer will completely disappear (and reappear after that). Major solar storms during a roll can cause ozone depletion. The number of skin cancer cases will increase by 3 times. The impact on all living things is difficult to predict, but can also be catastrophic.

Reversal of the Earth's magnetic poles: implications for power systems

In one study, massive solar storms were cited as the likely cause of the polar reversal. In another, global warming will be the culprit of this event, and it may be caused by increased activity of the Sun.

During the turn, there will be no protection from the magnetic field, and if a solar storm occurs, the situation will worsen even more. Life on our planet will not be affected in general, and societies that do not depend on technology will also be in perfect order. But the Earth of the future will suffer terribly if the roll happens quickly.

The electrical grids will stop functioning (they could be taken out of action by a big solar storm, and the inversion will affect much more). In the absence of electricity, there will be no water supply and sewerage, gas stations will stop working, food supplies will stop.

The performance of emergency services will be in question, and they will not be able to influence anything. Millions will die and billions will face great hardship. Only those who stock up on food and water in advance will be able to cope with the situation.

The danger of cosmic radiation

Our geomagnetic field is responsible for blocking about 50% of cosmic rays. Therefore, in its absence, the level of cosmic radiation will double. Although this will lead to an increase in mutations, this will not have lethal consequences. On the other hand, one of the possible causes of the pole shift is an increase in solar activity.

This could lead to an increase in the number of charged particles reaching our planet. In this case, the Earth of the future will be in great danger.

Will life survive on our planet?

Natural disasters, cataclysms are unlikely. The geomagnetic field is located in a region of space called the magnetosphere, shaped by the action of the solar wind.

The magnetosphere does not deflect all high-energy particles emitted by the Sun with the solar wind and other sources in the Galaxy. Sometimes our luminary is especially active, for example, when there are many spots on it, and it can send clouds of particles in the direction of the Earth.

During such solar flares and coronal mass ejections, astronauts in Earth orbit may need extra protection to avoid higher doses of radiation.

Therefore, we know that our planet's magnetic field provides only partial, not complete protection from cosmic radiation. In addition, high-energy particles can even be accelerated in the magnetosphere. On the Earth's surface, the atmosphere acts as an additional protective layer that stops all but the most active solar and galactic radiation.

In the absence of a magnetic field, the atmosphere will still absorb most of the radiation. The air shell protects us as effectively as a layer of concrete 4 m thick.

Human beings and their ancestors lived on Earth for several million years, during which there were many inversions, and there is no obvious correlation between them and the development of mankind. Similarly, the timing of the reversals does not coincide with the periods of extinction of species, as evidenced by geological history.

Some animals, such as pigeons and whales, use the geomagnetic field to navigate. Assuming that the turn takes several thousand years, that is, many generations of each species, then these animals can adapt well to the changing magnetic environment or develop other methods of navigation.

About the magnetic field

The source of the magnetic field is the Earth's iron-rich liquid outer core. It makes complex movements that are the result of convection of heat deep within the core and the rotation of the planet. The fluid movement is continuous and never stops, even during a turn.

It can stop only after the exhaustion of the energy source. Heat is produced in part due to the transformation of a liquid core into a solid core located at the center of the Earth. This process has been going on continuously for billions of years. In the upper part of the core, which is located 3000 km below the surface under the rocky mantle, the liquid can move in a horizontal direction at a speed of tens of kilometers per year.

Its movement across existing lines of force produces electric currents, and these, in turn, generate a magnetic field. This process is called advection. In order to balance the growth of the field, and thereby stabilize the so-called. "geodynamo", diffusion is necessary, in which the field "leaks" from the nucleus and is destroyed.

Ultimately, the flow of fluid creates a complex pattern of the magnetic field on the Earth's surface with a complex change over time.

Computer calculations

Supercomputer simulations of the geodynamo have demonstrated the complex nature of the field and its behavior over time. The calculations also showed a polarity reversal when the Earth's poles change. In such simulations, the strength of the main dipole is reduced to 10% of its normal value (but not to zero), and the existing poles can travel around the globe in conjunction with other temporary north and south poles.

The solid iron inner core of our planet in these models plays an important role in driving the reversal process. Because of its solid state, it cannot generate a magnetic field by advection, but any field that forms in the liquid of the outer core can diffuse, or propagate, into the inner core. Advection in the outer core seems to be regularly trying to invert.

But until the field trapped in the inner core first diffuses, the actual reversal of the Earth's magnetic poles will not occur. Essentially, the inner core resists the diffusion of any "new" field, and perhaps only one out of every ten attempts at such a reversal is successful.

Magnetic anomalies

It should be emphasized that, although these results are fascinating in themselves, it is not known whether they can be attributed to the real Earth. However, we do have mathematical models of our planet's magnetic field over the past 400 years with early data based on observations by merchant and navy sailors.

Their extrapolation to the internal structure of the globe shows the growth over time of the reverse flow regions at the core-mantle boundary. At these points, the compass needle is oriented, compared to the surrounding areas, in the opposite direction - in or out of the core.

These reverse flow sites in the South Atlantic are primarily responsible for weakening the main field. They are also responsible for a minimal tension called the Brazilian Magnetic Anomaly, which has its center under South America.

In this region, high-energy particles can approach the Earth more closely, causing an increased radiation risk for satellites in low Earth orbit. Much remains to be done to better understand the properties of the deep structure of our planet.

This is a world where pressure and temperature values ​​are similar to the surface of the Sun, and our scientific understanding reaches its limit.

Information about the poles of the Earth should be known to many. To do this, we advise you to read the article below! Here is the basic information about what the poles are, how they change, as well as interesting facts about who discovered the North Pole and how.

Basic information

What is a pole? By generally accepted standards, the geographic pole is a point located on the surface of the Earth and the axis of rotation of the planet intersecting with it. There are two geographic terrestrial poles in total. The North Pole is located in the Arctic, it is located in the central part of the Arctic Ocean. The second, but already the South Pole, is located in Antarctica.

But what is a pole? The geographic pole has no longitude, because all the meridians converge in it. The North Pole is located at a latitude of +90 degrees, the South Pole, in contrast, at -90 degrees. Geographic poles also do not have cardinal directions. In these areas of the globe there is neither day nor night, that is, there is no change of day. This is due to the lack of their participation in the daily rotation of the Earth.

Geographic data and what is a pole?

The poles have a very low temperature, because the Sun cannot fully reach those edges and the angle of its rise is no more than 23.5 degrees. The location of the poles is not exact (it is considered to be conditional), because the Earth's axis is constantly in motion, therefore, at the poles there is a certain movement of a certain number of meters annually.

How did you find the pole?

Frederick Cook and claimed to be the first among those who managed to reach this point - the North Pole. It happened in 1909. The public and the US Congress recognized the primacy of Robert Peary. But these data have remained officially and scientifically confirmed. After these travelers and scientists, there were absolutely many more campaigns and studies that have already been imprinted in world history.

In the subpolar regions of the Earth there are magnetic poles, in the Arctic - the North Pole, and in the Antarctic - the South Pole.

The North Magnetic Pole of the Earth was discovered by the English polar explorer John Ross in 1831 in the Canadian archipelago, where the magnetic needle of the compass took a vertical position. Ten years later, in 1841, his nephew James Ross reached the other magnetic pole of the Earth, which is located in Antarctica.

The North Magnetic Pole is a conditional point of intersection of the imaginary axis of rotation of the Earth with its surface in the Northern Hemisphere, in which the Earth's magnetic field is directed at an angle of 90 ° to its surface.

Although the North Pole of the Earth is called the North Magnetic Pole, it is not. Because from the point of view of physics, this pole is "south" (plus), because it attracts the compass needle of the north (minus) pole.

In addition, the magnetic poles do not coincide with the geographic ones, because they are constantly shifting, drifting.

Academic science explains the presence of magnetic poles near the Earth by the fact that the Earth has a solid body, the substance of which contains particles of magnetic metals and inside which there is a red-hot iron core.

And one of the reasons for the movement of the poles, according to scientists, is the Sun. Streams of charged particles from the Sun entering the Earth's magnetosphere generate electric currents in the ionosphere, which in turn generate secondary magnetic fields that excite the Earth's magnetic field. Due to this, there is a daily elliptical movement of the magnetic poles.

Also, according to scientists, the movement of magnetic poles is influenced by local magnetic fields generated by the magnetization of the rocks of the earth's crust. Therefore, there is no exact location within 1 km of the magnetic pole.

The most dramatic shift of the North magnetic pole up to 15 km per year took place in the 70s (before 1971 it was 9 km per year). The South Pole behaves more calmly, the shift of the magnetic pole occurs within 4-5 km per year.

If we consider the Earth to be integral, filled with matter, with an iron hot core inside, then a contradiction arises. Because hot iron loses its magnetism. Therefore, such a core cannot form terrestrial magnetism.

And at the earth's poles, no magnetic substance has been found that would create a magnetic anomaly. And if magnetic matter can still lie under the thickness of ice in Antarctica, then at the North Pole - no. Because it is covered by the ocean, water, which has no magnetic properties.

The movement of the magnetic poles cannot be explained at all by the scientific theory of an integral material Earth, because the magnetic substance cannot change its occurrence so quickly inside the Earth.

The scientific theory about the influence of the Sun on the movement of the poles also has contradictions. How can solar charged matter get into the ionosphere and to the Earth if there are several radiation belts behind the ionosphere (7 belts are now open).

As is known from the properties of the radiation belts, they do not release from the Earth into space and do not let any particles of matter or energy into the Earth from space. Therefore, it is absurd to talk about the influence of the solar wind on the earth's magnetic poles, since this wind does not reach them.

What can create a magnetic field? It is known from physics that a magnetic field is formed around a conductor through which an electric current flows, or around a permanent magnet, or by the spins of charged particles that have a magnetic moment.

From the listed reasons for the formation of a magnetic field, the spin theory is suitable. Because, as already mentioned, there is no permanent magnet at the poles, there is no electric current either. But the spin origin of the magnetism of the earth's poles is possible.

The spin origin of magnetism is based on the fact that elementary particles with non-zero spin such as protons, neutrons and electrons are elementary magnets. Taking the same angular orientation, such elementary particles create an ordered spin (or torsion) and magnetic field.

The source of the ordered torsion field can be located inside the hollow Earth. And it can be plasma.

In this case, at the North Pole there is an exit to the earth's surface of an ordered positive (right-handed) torsion field, and at the South Pole - an ordered negative (left-handed) torsion field.

In addition, these fields are also dynamic torsion fields. This proves that the Earth generates information, that is, it thinks, thinks and feels.

Now the question arises why the climate has changed so dramatically at the Earth's poles - from a subtropical climate to a polar climate - and ice is constantly forming? Although recently there has been a slight acceleration in the melting of ice.

Huge icebergs appear out of nowhere. The sea does not give birth to them: the water in it is salty, and icebergs, without exception, consist of fresh water. If we assume that they appeared as a result of rain, then the question arises: “How can insignificant precipitation - less than five centimeters of precipitation per year - form such ice giants, which are, for example, in Antarctica?

The formation of ice on the earth's poles once again proves the Hollow Earth theory, because ice is a continuation of the process of crystallization and covering the earth's surface with matter.

Natural ice is a crystalline state of water with a hexagonal lattice, where each molecule is surrounded by the four closest molecules to it, which are at the same distance from it and are located at the vertices of a regular tetrahedron.

Natural ice is of sedimentary-metamorphic origin and is formed from solid atmospheric precipitation as a result of their further compaction and recrystallization. That is, the formation of ice does not come from the middle of the Earth, but from the surrounding space - the crystalline earth frame that envelops it.

In addition, everything that is at the poles has an increase in weight. Although the increase in weight is not that big, for example, 1 ton weighs 5 kg more. That is, everything that is at the poles undergoes crystallization.

Let's go back to the issue of magnetic poles not matching geographic poles. The geographic pole is the place where the earth's axis is located - an imaginary axis of rotation that passes through the center of the Earth and intersects the earth's surface with coordinates of 0 ° north and south longitude and 0 ° north and south latitude. The earth's axis is tilted 23°30" to its own orbit.

Obviously, at the beginning, the earth's axis coincided with the earth's magnetic pole, and in this place an ordered torsion field appeared on the earth's surface. But along with an ordered torsion field, a gradual crystallization of the surface layer occurred, which led to the formation of matter and its gradual accumulation.

The formed substance tried to cover the point of intersection of the earth's axis, but its rotation did not allow it to be done. Therefore, a trough was formed around the intersection point, which increased in diameter and depth. And along the edge of the gutter, at a certain point, an ordered torsion field was concentrated, and at the same time a magnetic field.

This point with an ordered torsion field and a magnetic field crystallized a certain space and increased its weight. Therefore, it began to play the role of a flywheel or pendulum, which provided and now ensures the continuous rotation of the earth's axis. As soon as there are small failures in the rotation of the axis, the magnetic pole changes its position - it approaches the axis of rotation, then it moves away.

And this process of ensuring the continuous rotation of the earth's axis is not the same at the earth's magnetic poles, so they cannot be connected by a straight line through the center of the earth. To make it clear, for example, let's take the coordinates of the earth's magnetic poles for several years.

North Magnetic Pole - Arctic
2004 - 82.3° N sh. and 113.4°W d.
2007 - 83.95 ° N sh. and 120.72° W. d.
2015 - 86.29° N sh. and 160.06° W d.

South Magnetic Pole - Antarctica
2004 - 63.5 ° S sh. and 138.0° E. d.
2007 - 64.497 ° S sh. and 137.684° E. d.
2015 - 64.28 ° S sh. and 136.59° E. d.

"Our universal mother Earth is a great magnet!" - said the English physicist and physician William Gilbert, who lived in the 16th century. More than four hundred years ago, he correctly concluded that the Earth is a spherical magnet and its magnetic poles are the points where the magnetic needle is oriented vertically. But Gilbert was mistaken in believing that the Earth's magnetic poles coincide with its geographic poles. They don't match. Moreover, if the positions of the geographic poles are constant, then the positions of the magnetic poles change over time.

1831: The first determination of the coordinates of the magnetic pole in the Northern Hemisphere

In the first half of the 19th century, the first searches for magnetic poles were undertaken on the basis of direct measurements of the magnetic inclination on the ground. (Magnetic inclination - the angle by which the compass needle deviates under the influence of the Earth's magnetic field in the vertical plane. - Note. ed.)

The English navigator John Ross (1777–1856) set sail in May 1829 on the small steamer Victoria from the coast of England, heading for the Arctic coast of Canada. Like many daredevils before him, Ross hoped to find a northwest sea route from Europe to East Asia. But in October 1830, the Victoria was frozen in ice near the eastern tip of the peninsula, which Ross named Boothia Land (after the expedition's sponsor, Felix Booth).

Sandwiched in the ice off the coast of Butia Land, the Victoria was forced to stay here for the winter. Captain's mate on this expedition was John Ross' young nephew James Clark Ross (1800–1862). At that time, it was already common to take with you on such trips all the necessary instruments for magnetic observations, and James took advantage of this. During the long winter months, he walked along the coast of Butia with a magnetometer and made magnetic observations.

He understood that the magnetic pole must be somewhere nearby - after all, the magnetic needle invariably showed very large inclinations. By plotting the measured values ​​on a map, James Clark Ross soon realized where to look for this unique point with a vertical magnetic field. In the spring of 1831, he, along with several members of the crew of the Victoria, walked 200 km towards the western coast of Boothia and on June 1, 1831, at Cape Adelaide with coordinates 70 ° 05 ′ N. sh. and 96°47′ W found that the magnetic inclination was 89°59'. So for the first time the coordinates of the magnetic pole in the Northern Hemisphere were determined - in other words, the coordinates of the South magnetic pole.

1841: The first determination of the coordinates of the magnetic pole in the Southern Hemisphere

In 1840, the matured James Clark Ross embarked on the ships Erebus and Terror on his famous journey to the magnetic pole in the Southern Hemisphere. On December 27, Ross's ships first encountered icebergs and on New Year's Eve 1841 crossed the Antarctic Circle. Very soon, the Erebus and the Terror found themselves in front of pack ice that stretched from edge to edge of the horizon. On January 5, Ross made the bold decision to go forward, straight onto the ice, and go as deep as he could. And after a few hours of such an assault, the ships unexpectedly entered a space freer from ice: the pack ice was replaced by separate ice floes scattered here and there.

On the morning of January 9, Ross unexpectedly discovered an ice-free sea ahead of him! This was his first discovery on this journey: he discovered the sea, which was later called by his own name - the Ross Sea. To the starboard of the course was mountainous, snow-covered land, which forced Ross's ships to sail south and which seemed to never end. Sailing along the coast, Ross, of course, did not miss the opportunity to open the southernmost lands for the glory of the British kingdom; This is how Queen Victoria Land was discovered. At the same time, he was worried that on the way to the magnetic pole, the coast could become an insurmountable obstacle.

Meanwhile, the behavior of the compass became more and more strange. Ross, who had rich experience in magnetometric measurements, understood that the magnetic pole was no more than 800 km away. No one had ever come so close to him before. It soon became clear that Ross's fear was not in vain: the magnetic pole was clearly somewhere to the right, and the coast stubbornly directed the ships further and further south.

As long as the path was open, Ross did not give up. It was important for him to collect at least as much magnetometric data as possible at different points along the coast of Victoria Land. On January 28, the expedition was in for the most amazing surprise of the entire journey: a huge awakened volcano rose on the horizon. Above it hung a dark cloud of smoke, tinged with fire, which burst from the vent in a pillar. Ross gave the name Erebus to this volcano, and the neighboring one, extinct and somewhat smaller, gave the name Terror.

Ross tried to go even further south, but very soon a completely unimaginable picture arose before his eyes: along the entire horizon, where the eye could see, a white stripe stretched, which, as it approached it, became higher and higher! As the ships approached closer, it became clear that in front of them on the right and on the left was a huge endless ice wall 50 meters high, completely flat on top, without any cracks on the side facing the sea. It was the edge of the ice shelf that now bears the name of Ross.

In mid-February 1841, after sailing 300 kilometers along the ice wall, Ross made the decision to stop further attempts to find a loophole. From that moment on, only the road home remained ahead.

Ross's expedition is by no means a failure. After all, he was able to measure the magnetic inclination at very many points around the coast of Victoria Land and thereby establish the position of the magnetic pole with high accuracy. Ross indicated the following coordinates of the magnetic pole: 75 ° 05' S. latitude, 154°08′ e. e. The minimum distance separating the ships of his expedition from this point was only 250 km. It is the Ross measurements that should be considered the first reliable determination of the coordinates of the magnetic pole in Antarctica (the North Magnetic Pole).

Magnetic Pole coordinates in the Northern Hemisphere in 1904

73 years have passed since James Ross determined the coordinates of the magnetic pole in the Northern Hemisphere, and now the famous Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen (1872-1928) has undertaken the search for the magnetic pole in this hemisphere. However, the search for the magnetic pole was not the only goal of the Amundsen expedition. The main goal was to open the northwestern sea route from the Atlantic to the Pacific. And he achieved this goal - in 1903-1906 he sailed from Oslo, past the coast of Greenland and Northern Canada to Alaska on a small fishing vessel "Joa".

Subsequently, Amundsen wrote: “I wanted my childhood dream of a northwestern sea route to be connected on this expedition with another, much more important scientific goal: finding the current location of the magnetic pole.”

He approached this scientific task with all seriousness and carefully prepared for its implementation: he studied the theory of geomagnetism with leading German experts; I bought magnetometers there. Practicing to work with them, Amundsen traveled all over Norway in the summer of 1902.

By the beginning of the first winter of his journey, in 1903, Amundsen reached King William Island, which was located very close to the magnetic pole. The magnetic inclination here was 89°24′.

Deciding to spend the winter on the island, Amundsen simultaneously created a real geomagnetic observatory here, which performed continuous observations for many months.

The spring of 1904 was devoted to observations "in the field" in order to determine the coordinates of the pole as accurately as possible. Amundsen was successful in discovering that the position of the magnetic pole had shifted markedly northward from the point at which it had been found by the James Ross expedition. It turned out that from 1831 to 1904 the magnetic pole moved 46 km to the north.

Looking ahead, we note that there is evidence that over this 73-year period, the magnetic pole did not just move north a little, but rather described a small loop. Somewhere around 1850, he first stopped his movement from the northwest to the southeast, and only then began a new journey to the north, which continues today.

Magnetic Pole Drift in the Northern Hemisphere from 1831 to 1994

The next time the location of the magnetic pole in the Northern Hemisphere was determined in 1948. A multi-month expedition to the Canadian fjords was not needed: after all, now the place could be reached in just a few hours - by air. This time the magnetic pole in the Northern Hemisphere was found on the shores of Lake Allen on Prince of Wales Island. The maximum inclination here was 89°56′. It turned out that since the time of Amundsen, that is, since 1904, the pole "left" to the north by as much as 400 km.

Since then, the exact location of the magnetic pole in the Northern Hemisphere (South Magnetic Pole) has been determined regularly by Canadian magnetologists with a frequency of about 10 years. Subsequent expeditions took place in 1962, 1973, 1984, 1994.

Not far from the location of the magnetic pole in 1962, on Cornwallis Island, in the town of Resolut Bay (74°42′ N, 94°54′ W), a geomagnetic observatory was built. Nowadays, a trip to the South Magnetic Pole is just a fairly short helicopter ride from Resolute Bay. Not surprisingly, with the development of communications in the 20th century, this remote town in northern Canada has become increasingly visited by tourists.

Let's pay attention to the fact that, speaking about the Earth's magnetic poles, we are actually talking about some averaged points. Ever since the Amundsen expedition, it has become clear that even for one day the magnetic pole does not stand still, but makes small “walks” around a certain midpoint.

The reason for such movements, of course, is the Sun. Streams of charged particles from our luminary (solar wind) enter the Earth's magnetosphere and generate electric currents in the Earth's ionosphere. Those, in turn, generate secondary magnetic fields that perturb the geomagnetic field. As a result of these perturbations, the magnetic poles are forced to make their daily walks. Their amplitude and speed naturally depend on the strength of the perturbations.

The route of such walks is close to an ellipse, and the pole in the Northern Hemisphere makes a detour clockwise, and in the Southern Hemisphere - against. The latter, even on days of magnetic storms, moves away from the midpoint by no more than 30 km. The pole in the Northern Hemisphere on such days can move away from the midpoint by 60–70 km. On quiet days, the sizes of diurnal ellipses for both poles are significantly reduced.

Magnetic Pole Drift in the Southern Hemisphere from 1841 to 2000

It should be noted that historically, measuring the coordinates of the magnetic pole in the Southern Hemisphere (the North Magnetic Pole) has always been quite difficult. Its inaccessibility is largely to blame. If from Resolute Bay to the magnetic pole in the Northern Hemisphere can be reached by a small airplane or helicopter in a few hours, then from the southern tip of New Zealand to the coast of Antarctica one has to fly more than 2000 km over the ocean. And after that, it is necessary to conduct research in the difficult conditions of the ice continent. To properly appreciate the inaccessibility of the North Magnetic Pole, let's go back to the very beginning of the 20th century.

For a long time after James Ross, no one dared to go deep into Victoria Land in search of the North Magnetic Pole. The first to do this were members of the expedition of the English polar explorer Ernest Henry Shackleton (1874-1922) during his voyage in 1907-1909 on the old whaling ship Nimrod.

On January 16, 1908, the ship entered the Ross Sea. Too thick pack ice off the coast of Victoria Land for a long time did not make it possible to find an approach to the shore. Only on February 12, it was possible to transfer the necessary things and magnetometric equipment to the shore, after which the Nimrod headed back to New Zealand.

The polar explorers who remained on the coast took several weeks to build more or less acceptable dwellings. Fifteen daredevils learned to eat, sleep, communicate, work and generally live in incredibly difficult conditions. A long polar winter lay ahead. Throughout the winter (in the Southern Hemisphere it begins at the same time as our summer), the members of the expedition were engaged in scientific research: meteorology, geology, measuring atmospheric electricity, studying the sea through cracks in the ice and the ice itself. Of course, by the spring people were already quite exhausted, although the main goals of the expedition were still ahead.

On October 29, 1908, one group, led by Shackleton himself, set out on a planned expedition to the Geographic South Pole. True, the expedition was never able to reach it. On January 9, 1909, only 180 km from the South Geographic Pole, in order to save the hungry and exhausted people, Shackleton decides to leave the expedition flag here and turn the group back.

The second group of polar explorers, led by the Australian geologist Edgeworth David (1858–1934), independently of Shackleton's group, set out on a journey to the magnetic pole. There were three of them: David, Mawson and McKay. Unlike the first group, they had no experience in polar exploration. Having left on September 25, by the beginning of November they were already behind schedule and, due to food overruns, were forced to sit on strict rations. Antarctica taught them harsh lessons. Hungry and exhausted, they fell into almost every crevasse in the ice.

On December 11, Mawson nearly died. He fell into one of the countless clefts, and only a reliable rope saved the explorer's life. A few days later, a 300-kilogram sleigh fell into the crevasse, almost dragging three people exhausted from hunger. By December 24, the health of the polar explorers had seriously deteriorated, they suffered simultaneously from frostbite and sunburn; McKay also developed snow blindness.

But on January 15, 1909, they nevertheless achieved their goal. Mawson's compass showed a deviation of the magnetic field from the vertical of only 15 '. Leaving almost all the luggage in place, they reached the magnetic pole in one throw of 40 km. The magnetic pole in the southern hemisphere of the Earth (the North magnetic pole) has been conquered. Hoisting the British flag on the Pole and taking pictures, the travelers shouted “Hurrah!” three times. King Edward VII and declared this land the property of the British crown.

Now they had only one thing to do - stay alive. According to the calculations of the polar explorers, in order to be in time for the departure of the Nimrod on February 1, they had to cover 17 miles a day. But they were still four days late. Fortunately, "Nimrod" itself was delayed. So soon the three brave explorers were enjoying a hot dinner on board the ship.

So David, Mawson, and McKay were the first people to set foot on the magnetic pole in the Southern Hemisphere, which happened to be at 72°25′S that day. latitude, 155°16′ e. (300 km from the point measured at the time by Ross).

It is clear that there was not even any talk of any serious measuring work here. The vertical inclination of the field was recorded only once, and this served as a signal not for further measurements, but only for a speedy return to the shore, where the warm cabins of the Nimrod awaited the expedition. Such work in determining the coordinates of the magnetic pole cannot even be compared closely with the work of geophysicists in Arctic Canada, for several days conducting magnetic surveys from several points surrounding the pole.

However, the last expedition (the expedition of 2000) was carried out at a fairly high level. Since the North Magnetic Pole had long since left the mainland and was in the ocean, this expedition was carried out on a specially equipped ship.

Measurements showed that in December 2000 the North Magnetic Pole was opposite the coast of Adélie Land at 64°40'S. sh. and 138°07′ E. d.

Fragment from the book: Tarasov L. V. Terrestrial magnetism. - Dolgoprudny: Publishing House "Intellect", 2012.