Earth’s magnetic poles are a component of the planet’s geomagnetic field arising due to the movement of molten iron and nickel flows around the central solid core, due to currents in the ionosphere, local anomalies of the earth’s crust, etc. The magnetic pole is the point at which the geomagnetic field is located under right angle to the surface of the planet. There are two poles in total - the north and south, which are not antipodal due to the asymmetry of the field.
The Earth’s magnetic pole in the northern hemisphere is essentially southern, because this is where the lines of force of the field go beneath the surface. And the “true” north pole is located in the south, where these lines come from under the surface.
It is assumed that the existence of magnetic poles mankind has known for a very long time. Already in 220 BC, images of the first compass, which was called the "heavenly table", were made in China. It was a small spoon rotating in the middle of a bronze plate. The exact coordinates of where the north and south magnetic poles of the Earth are located were established in the thirties and forties of the 19th century. In 1831, the Ross brothers determined that the north pole is 70 degrees 5 minutes north latitude and 96 degrees 46 minutes west longitude. And the south magnetic pole has the following coordinates: 75 degrees 20 minutes south latitude and 132 degrees 20 minutes east longitude (established in 1841). As of the beginning of the XXI century, the location of these points has changed significantly. The Earth’s north magnetic pole “moved away” from the point defined in 1831 by 1340 km, and the south by 1349 km (from the location of 1841, respectively). The trajectory of movement of these points is not linear - they can also perform return actions.
In recent years, scientists have noted that the displacement of the Earth’s magnetic poles has accelerated significantly. Some attribute this to the fact that in 1969-1970. a geomagnetic jump occurred, which significantly changed the parameters of the planet’s field. Further, the coordinate location adjustment was carried out under the influence of the jumps of 1978 and 1991-1992. In addition, the Earth’s magnetic pole is influenced by the total field strength, which over the past century has fallen to its minimum value. In this regard, there are assumptions about a possible inversion of the poles when they switch places, which will cause numerous destruction and natural disasters. Over the past two million years, the pole change has already taken place about 20 times, of which the last fell for a period of about 0.8 million years ago. However, when this happens next time, no one can predict for sure, because all previous events were irregular.
In the course of studies in 1993, conducted with rocks from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, it was found that after polarity reversal the magnetic field first receives the maximum charge, and then its strength gradually disappears. Perhaps this is some kind of universal mechanism that allows you to strengthen the protection of life on the planet from cosmic radiation. Without it, our Earth would be lifeless, like Mars, where there is a very weak field, or like Venus, where it does not exist at all.
