The Earth’s magnetic North Pole has changed its official position again. The latest report from NOAA and the British Geological Survey, published through the WMM2025 model, confirms that the magnetic pole continues to move from the Canadian Arctic to Siberia, faster and further than previously assumed. Over the last 190 years, it has traveled more than 2,200 kilometers, and the latest analysis shows that it is now closer to northern Russia than Canada.
This kind of “drift” originates from the movement of molten iron in the Earth’s outer core, which generates a changing magnetic field. Although the pole has been speeding up to 60 km per year in the last three decades, the latest measurements show a slowdown to about 35 km per year, which is still extremely fast in geological terms. WMM2025 points out that this is the largest slowdown on record, which is why scientific focus on core dynamics has increased.
The biggest changes in the magnetic North Pole in the modern history of the Earth
These changes affect global navigation systems. Commercial aircraft, ships, military systems, satellites and smart phones use this very model as the basis for digital compasses. The latest edition also includes the improved WMMHR2025 model, with a resolution improved tenfold: from 3,300 to 300 kilometers at the equator, enabling more accurate correction of magnetic declination around the world.
As magnetic north moves, so does the difference between magnetic and geographic north. If the devices do not receive new corrections, compass-based navigation may deviate by several degrees, which is unacceptable in polar aviation corridors and in naval operations. The new updates also include moving the magnetic “blackout” zones where compasses become unreliable.
Although the magnetic field undergoes constant corrections, scientists stress that there is no indication that the Earth is close to a geomagnetic reversal, a phenomenon during which the north and south magnetic poles switch. Such events occur at intervals of hundreds of thousands of years, and current data do not indicate a similar scenario in the near future.
The WMM2025 model will remain valid until the end of 2029, unless the magnetic field shows extremely unexpected changes. However, due to the processes taking place 3,000 kilometers below the Earth’s surface, long-term forecasts still remain one of the greatest challenges of geophysics, reports IDR.