- In mid-December 2024, scientists officially updated the World Magnetic Model (WMM), which helps keep track of our planet’s magnetic north and its chaotic and relatively unpredictable movements.
- This new model updates the location of magnetic north while providing improved navigation for technologies that rely on Earth’s magnetic field.
- Updated every five years, scientists confirmed the previous model was fairly accurate, but sometimes emergency updates are needed.
The importance of the world magnetic field is difficult to underestimate. On the one hand, this magnetic shield is responsible for the formation of life on Earth in the first place, because it protects the surface from most of the sun’s harmful UV rays. In a minus existential On average, the magnetic field is also vital for navigation – simply get lost in the backcountry with only a compass to guide you, and you will quickly understand its importance.
However, Earth’s magnetic north is constantly influenced by planets rotating the iron core, which produces the entire magnetic field. Consequently, magnetic north always changesand since its discovery in 1831, it has swung about 680 miles toward Siberia from its original location. Its speed can also change significantly –from 1999 to 2005for example, magnetic north went from moving just nine miles in a year to 37 miles. However, over the past five years, Magnetic North has decelerated from moving from 31 miles per year to just 22 miles. It’s a pretty chaotic system.
To keep precise tabs on this ever-changing magnetic north, scientists developed the World Magnetic Model (WMM). Updated every five years, this spherical harmonic model allows navigation systems dependent on the Earth’s magnetic field to continue to function properly. The WMM is the standard model used by the United States, the United Kingdom and several international organizations, such as NATO. In mid-December last yearThe National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) and the British Geological Survey (BGS) have released a new version of this model with improved accuracy and better predictions of the next five years of the North’s magnetic behavior.
“The real challenge is, and the reason we release a model every five years, it doesn’t change regularly,” said William Brown, a geophysicist at BGS who helped create the new model, said Live Science. “It’s not completely predictable. It’s a really complicated chaotic system. Typically, around five years is when the accuracy of the model starts to get to the point where it’s not as good as we would like. So we make a better prediction with five years more information to work with and simply update the prediction in the future. »
These updates will happen in the background on Navigation systems from airlines to smartphonesand this new model will likely keep these services up and running error-free – isolation likely. Due to the unpredictability driven by the planet’s geomagnetism, sometimes scientists will issue an emergency update to the WMM. In 2019, for example, changes in magnetic north had exceeded the threshold for precise navigationso an update was issued (which was only noticeable to those deploying near the Arctic).
As for the 2020 update, scientists confirmed – by analyzing the position of Magnetic North – that the previous model was quite accurate. “THE forecast was very good (…). And so the new model confirmed that we were not very far off,” said UC-Boulder researcher Arnaud Chulliat. said CNN.
Scientists (hopefully) won’t revisit Magnetic North’s true placement until late 2029.
Darren lives in Portland, has a cat, and writes/edits science fiction and how our world works. You can find his previous stuff at Gizmodo and stick it if you look hard enough.