This image shows magnetic declination, or the angle between magnetic and geographic north, according to the World Magnetic Model released in 2025. Red is magnetic north to the east of geographic ...

What went wrong? Joling’s phone did not calculate the difference between magnetic north and true north. True north is the straight-line direction toward the geographic north pole of the Earth.

Magnetic north and geographic north align when the so-called 'angle of declination', the difference between the two norths at a particular location, is 0°.

"The current behavior of magnetic north is something that we have never observed before." For decades, scientists have been tracking the shift in Earth's magnetic north pole away from Canada and ...

The foundation of many navigation systems, the World Magnetic Model finally got a much-needed update with the end of the U.S. government shutdown.

The space between true North and what compasses recognize as geomagnetic North is called the angle of declination. As the two locations move closer, that angle gets smaller.

Magnetic declination is the angle between magnetic north and true geographic north, as seen from any specific location on the planet's surface. Credit: NOAA NCEI/CIRES.

Never mind the wind, waves, storms, shoals and countless other factors that once made sailing across an ocean an incredibly complex task fraught with danger. Perhaps the most confounding aspect of a ...

Anyone who has ever stood on the Prime Meridian line at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich in London holding a compass will know that True North and Magnetic North do not align.

Your navigation system just got a critical update, one that happens periodically because Earth’s magnetic north pole keeps moving. Here’s what to know.

This image shows magnetic declination, or the angle between magnetic and geographic north, according to the World Magnetic Model released in 2025.