A lesser known feature of the planet Earth’s magnetic field has recently gained a special Canadian connection that is often overlooked in the better known science story about the magnetic north pole drifting away from Canada toward Russia.
The wandering north pole typically gets a round of media attention every five years when there is a new update to the World Magnetic Model, basically a map of the local variations in the planet’s magnetic field that is used for precise calculation in navigation systems. The 2025 version, released a year ago by British and American national scientific organizations, showed that the magnetic north pole is still drifting across the Arctic Ocean toward Russian territory, though at a slower rate than in recent years.
