Seven things you didn't know about... the North Pole. There are four North Poles. The terrestrial North Pole is a fixed geographic point that’s diametrically opposed to the terrestrial South Pole on our planet’s axis of rotation; it’s the top of the spinning top that’s Earth. The North Dip Pole is the spot where the geomagnetic field is perpendicular to the Earth’s surface, “dipping” to meet the big, rotating ellipsoid that is our planet. The North Dip Pole isn’t stationary. Just in the last century, it has migrated northward from a point in Canada at about 71 degrees latitude to its current position, about 85 degrees north, in the Arctic Ocean. There’s a South Dip Pole, too, but the North Dip Pole doesn’t have to be antipodal, or diametrically opposed, to it. Right now they’re off by more than 20 degrees latitude. When your compass points north, it’s pointing to the North Dip Pole, which is also called the magnetic North Pole. The geomagnetic North Pole is a different thing altogether. It’s calculated using mathematical models based on an imaginary line running through the geomagnetic center of Earth. Over the past century, the geomagnetic North Pole has migrated from Greenland to Canada. #GlobeFacts #NorthPoleFacts Globes : 23cm Mint Green desk globes in progress : www.bellerbyandco.com
Bellerby & Co Globemakers, London. Photo by Jade Fenster.