The Earth's magnetic north pole continues to move towards Russia. Scientists have published a new model that tracks its position, finding that the pole is now closer to Siberia than five years ago.

CNN writes about this. Unlike the geographical north pole, which has a fixed location, the position of the northern magnetic pole is determined by the magnetic field of the Earth, which is constantly moving.

“Over the past few decades, the movement of the magnetic north has been unprecedented - it has sharply accelerated, and then sharply slowed down, although scientists cannot explain the main reason for the unusual behavior of the magnetic field,” the article said.

Global positioning systems, including those used by aircraft and ships, find magnetic north using the World Magnetic Model (WMM). It was developed by the British Geological Survey and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This model notes the established position of the magnetic north and predicts the future drift based on the trajectory over the past few years.

To maintain the accuracy of GPS measurements, every five years researchers revise the model, dropping the official position of the magnetic north and introducing new forecasts regarding its movement for the next five years.

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In 1990, his movement of the Northern Magnetic Pole accelerated, increasing from 15 kilometers a year to 55 kilometers per year. This shift was unprecedented, scientists say. And around 2015, the drift slowed to 35 kilometers per year.

The rapid slowdown was also unprecedented, so that by 2019 the fluctuations had deviated so much from the previous model that scientists updated it a year earlier.

Scientists expect that the drift in the direction of Russia will continue to slow down, although, according to Brown, there is a certain uncertainty regarding how long the slowdown continues and whether it will continue the current pace.

" We will continue to monitor the situation and evaluate WMM's performance, but we do not expect to need to release a new model before the planned update in 2030,"