It has been long understood that dip poles migrate over time. In 1831, James Clark Ross located the north dip pole position in northern Canada. Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) tracked the North Magnetic Pole, which is slowly drifting across the Canadian Arctic, by periodically carrying out magnetic surveys to reestablish the Pole’s location from 1948 to 1994.
An international collaboration, led by a French fundraising association, Poly-Arctique, and involving NRCan, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris and Bureau de Recherche Geologique et Miniere, added two locations of the North Magnetic Pole in 2001 and 2007. The most recent survey determined that the Pole is moving approximately north-northwest at 55 km per year.
Four North Poles?
There are four “North Poles” that can be defined in the Arctic:
+ Geographic North Pole (also known as True North): The northernmost point of the Earth as determined by the northern axis of its rotation. It has a known fixed position, at latitude 90° North.
+ Magnetic North Pole: A moving location where lines of magnetic force enter and exit the Earth vertically. The north point of a magnetic compass points to this pole. It’s location was discovered by James Clark Ross in 1831.
+ Geomagnetic North Pole: The pole of the Earth’s geomagnetic field that surrounds the Earth and extends into space as the magnetosphere. This is the centre of the region in which the Northern Lights can be seen.
+ North Pole of Inaccessibility: At approximately 85°N-175°W, this represents the point on the surface of the Arctic Ocean which is the farthest distance (about 1100 km / 684 miles) from any coastline.