British explorer Sir James Clark Ross discovered the magnetic north pole in 1831 in northern Canada, approximately 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers) south of the true North Pole.

A Magnetic Shift. Magnetic north is not fixed like its geographic counterpart, the North Pole. Instead, it meanders, driven by the roiling motion of molten metals in Earth’s outer core.

The magnetic north pole just isn’t where it used to be. Ever since the British polar explorer James Clark Ross first identified it on the Boothia Peninsula in Canada’s Nunavut territory in ...

And unlike the geographic north pole, which is fixed, the north magnetic pole has been slowly migrating over time – moving across the Canadian Arctic toward Russia since 1831.

The updated version of the World Magnetic Model was released on Dec. 17, with a new prediction of how the magnetic north pole will shift over the next five years. Here's why it was changed.

In the 300 years between 1600 and 1900, scientists estimate that the magnetic North Pole moved about six miles per year. At the beginning of this century, it picked up to about 34 miles per year ...

The south magnetic pole is also moving, though at a much slower rate (10-15km a year). This rapid wandering of the north magnetic pole has caused some problems for scientists and navigators alike.

The north magnetic pole is restless. ... If you were to use the current model to travel to the north magnetic pole, you would end up 25 miles away from where the pole actually resides.

Earth’s magnetic north is not static. Like an anchorless buoy pushed by ocean waves, the magnetic field is constantly on the move as liquid iron sloshes around in the planet’s outer core.