Magnetic Pole Shift causing Armageddon!

[aeronautic1]

The Earth has no gravity - It sucks!

[Montanan]

Originally Posted by Wotname

OK, I can accept that modern airline transport aircraft may have removed the self-contained standby compasses in their cockpit however tens of thousands of other aircraft haven't.
I suspect the main reason for aviation to remain using magnetic references is that it is easy to design and manufacture a heading system (i.e. gyro compass) that always points to magnetic north without any further need for additional data or adjustment. The magnetic flux detector simply detects the earths magnetic field and aligns the heading pointer accordingly.

To use a magnetic heading system and adjust for true requires additional data input. Apart from highly complex (and expensive) inertial nav systems, I'm unaware of any system that will inherently determine where true north is while the system is in motion.

I'm curious to know why you think using true is better than magnetic other than when using paper charts or navigating near the poles

The shifting of the magnetic pole requires the renaming of the airport runways. Airports are routinely shutdown for a short period to allow for the runway to be renumbered. Many runways have been redesignated to keep up with the ever changing magnetic alignment.

Reference: https://www.wired.com/story/airports...agnetic-shift/

Snipet:

"runways that have been welcoming planes with number and letter designations since 1954.

This is not a “What’s in a name?” situation. The runways may be the same sweet-smelling stretches of tarmac they’ve always been, but the world around them has changed. Well, the magnetic fields around the world have changed. The planet’s magnetic poles—the points that compasses recognize as north and south—are always wandering about. The magnetic North Pole (as opposed to the geographic one, which doesn't move) shifts by as much as 40 miles a year, and is steadily headed from somewhere over Canada toward Russia.

That’s a problem, because most runways are named for their magnetic headings. Take Wichita’s 14/32. First off, because planes can land or take off from either direction, you can think of it as two runways: 14 and 32. (Pro tip: Pilots say "one-four" and "three-two," not 14 and 32.) If you’re looking at a compass, one end is about 140 degrees off of north, counting clockwise. The other end is 320 degrees off. For simplicity’s sake, the headings are rounded to the nearest 10, and dropped to two digits. So if you’re looking down at Wichita Eisenhower, runway 14/32 is the one running from the northwest to the southeast. The airport's other runways, 1L/19R and 1R/19L, work the same way: The 1 means one end of the runway is 10 degrees off north, the 19 means the other end is 190 degrees off. They share numbers because they run parallel to one another. That's why they have letters: The L and R stand for left and right, respectively meaning west and east.

That makes things easy for pilots, especially if they’re newbies at the airport in question. When they get the order to land at runway 20R, they can easily pick it out and make sure they’re properly lined up for touchdown.

But those numbers, painted in the 1950s, are no longer accurate, at least not according to the magnetic navigation tools that commercial aircraft still use. The FAA knows all about those itinerant poles, and regularly evaluates runway designations to make sure they’re still accurate. Things only change when the compass reading shifts a certain amount. Say the pole shifts such that the heading of 258 degrees is actually 259 degrees. That still rounds to 260, and the runway would still be called 26. But if the compass reading goes from 258 to 254, you’re now looking at runway 25."

[parkstone bay]

This is yet further evidence that you should always do your nav in True. But the North Mag pole has ALWAYS moved (presumably the South does as well?) - that is the basis, or rather one of the bases, of a previous poster saying that paper charts are "dangerous". Only as far back as the 1930s, less than one lifetime ago, charts of my home port, on the South Coast of England had double digit W variation. We now have approx 1 degree W. And as for the myth that "rocks can't move"? Unassisted they cannot, that is true. But mankind can, and does, intervene. He/she/it builds new port facilities, so what was once deep water is now dry land; or dredge new channels or canals, so that what was once dry land is now deep water; or blow up a rock dangerous to surface navigation, (small boys have always enjoyed big bangs!); or survey a coastline with more accurate methods; or re-mark a channel with IALA laterals rather than cardinals. But GPS satellites won't fall out the sky as a result of the earth's magnetic field changing, as it always has.

[Mauruuru]

I love people who make statements of certainty based on nothing more than their biases and opinions! Thanks for weighing in, now weigh anchor

[Mauruuru]

these arguments are nonsense. The orientation of the poles magnetic and true are arbitrary selections. Once a point is chosen and a sphere is drawn every measurement is relative---just like every other measurement system. For most sailors a choice of magnetic or true bearing is only relative to their current location and motion relative to the choice. If they inadvertently switch choices in between it could cause a big problem but as long as they use the same R E L A T I V E measuring system they will accomplish their goal-arrival at a chosen destination.
Lets get real people, have a fact based debate or none at all.

[parkstone bay]

Hmmmmmmm Whatever one's views on the EU, and the undoubted troubles facing Santa Theresa of the Sorrows, this is supposed to be a Cruising Forum, not a political one.

Or have I missed something?

[Beau.Vrolyk]

Originally Posted by Dave_S

It's about time we returned to natural order with Australia on top.

From the inverted map it looks like New Zealand, Chili, and Argentina are on top; putting Australia in the second tier.

Sort of the way the US has always been below Canada.

[GordMay]

... these arguments are nonsense. The orientation of the poles magnetic and true are arbitrary selections. Once a point is chosen and a sphere is drawn every measurement is relative ...

Not true (pun intended).
The Earth has fixed geographic North and South poles, which are the points that mark the Earth's axis of rotation. Geographically Constant & Not arbitrary.

It also has moving magnetic North and South poles, based on the planet's magnetic field. Geographically Wandering but Not arbitrary.

[Romlea]

There is a simpel solution for this problem, isn’t there?
Just lock screen rotation of your iPad and turn it upside down!

[svmariane]

What is this "screen rotation" of which you speak? Is it anything like having two teenage granddaughters sharing a single smart phone?

[Benfavorite]

If the charts where in MGRS (military grid reference system) you would then be able to utilize your gps and your magnetic bearing would be irrelevant. The problem would then be that you are reliant on a GPS for your fix. The GPS satellite constellation is in geosynchronous orbit and fixes your position by triangulation. If we experience a polar shift of the magnitude I’ve been reading about, there will be a period when your dead reckoning and charts will be totally useless until the polar shift stabilizes (relatively). However, there is nothing that will be able to be done by us or any government agency.

Remember that man has only been seafaring with a compass for about 500-600 yrs, and these known polar shifts happen on a much grander scale. It won’t take us long to reorient and reengage! I would be more concerned about the other effects of a Grand Solar Minimum......

[Brian.D]

GPS satellites are not Geo, but MEO. Therefore, they are not stationary but moving. We get our fix via Doppler effect caused by the moving satellite to us and away from us.

[Olddan1943]

The poles have 'wandered' a bit since the beginning of time.

Per pole reversal, first one must remember, there is actual land under the ice and snow at the south pole and that mass has to be overcome if the world is going to be turned upside down. If there is land in the north pole, our submarines and Russian submarines have not found or run into it.
With the land mass at the south pole and the lack of land at the north pole, IMO, IF the world is going to turn upside down, it wont happen in my life time. After I die, I wont care what happens. SHRUG

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by Beau.Vrolyk

From the inverted map it looks like New Zealand, Chili, and Argentina are on top; putting Australia in the second tier.

Sort of the way the US has always been below Canada.

Your inverting it the wrong way.

[44'cruisingcat]

Obviously human activity is causing this.

The question is how?

I reckon it's all those luddites using their compasses are wearing earth's magnetism out.