You should be familiar with longitude and latitude lines; they are human-invented invisible lines that run north-south and east-west. They are used by map-makers to divide the world up into smaller pieces for navigational (locational) purposes. Maps use the North and South Poles to orient all locations on Earth. Any point on Earth can be pinpointed exactly on a map by its latitude and longitude. The North and South Poles we are familiar with are the geographical poles.However, when you use a magnet, the north pole of the magnet is not necessarily attracted to the North Pole of the earth. The magnetic north pole is not located at the geographic north pole; it is located south of there. The magnetic north pole is currently located in the Arctic Ocean north of Canada. The magnetic south pole of the earth is located in the ocean near Antarctica, south of Australia.
The magnetic poles are drifting; they don’t stay in the same place. In fact, the north magnetic pole has moved 1100 km in the last century, and lately it’s been moving more than 40 km a year! In 2003, the north magnetic pole was at about 82°N, 112°W. The south magnetic pole is at about 65°S, 139°E. It has been traveling northwest about 10-15 km a year. Not only that, but the poles also move around daily in a small elliptical orbit! The position of the poles depends on the electric currents and the motion of the liquid iron core of the earth.
Maps
Why are maps drawn to the geographic north pole not the magnetic north pole?
The magnetic north pole can move, the geographic north pole does not move.
