The Earth’s magnetic north pole has shifted significantly, prompting an update to the World Magnetic Model 2025 (WMM2025), the scientific reference that underpins air and sea navigation and numerous everyday technological systems around the world.
This model is developed by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the British Geological Survey. Its function is essential for defining courses in aviation, ocean navigation, and global positioning. It also enables the accurate operation of digital compasses built into millions of mobile phones and car navigation systems.
Currently, the point at which compasses point is located closer to Siberia than to the Canadian Arctic. Since its official identification in 1831, the magnetic pole has traveled more than 2,200 kilometers. This displacement is part of a natural process, although in recent decades it has shown significant changes in direction and speed.
One of the aspects that has attracted the most attention in the scientific community is the slowdown in movement. For years, the pole advanced between 50 and 60 kilometers per year. More recently, the speed has dropped to about 35 kilometers per year. Specialists describe this phenomenon as the greatest slowdown recorded to date, with technical effects that require constant adjustments to navigation systems.
Unlike the geographic North Pole, which marks the planet’s axis of rotation and remains fixed, the magnetic pole changes position continuously. Its behavior responds to the movements of liquid iron in the Earth’s outer core, which is responsible for generating the Earth’s magnetic field. This field acts as a shield against solar radiation and has enabled orientation using compasses since ancient times.
The World Magnetic Model is published every five years and serves as an official reference for governments, armed forces, and technology companies. The WMM2025 version, presented in December 2024, will remain valid until the end of 2029, unless there are abrupt changes in the magnetic field. The model is used by civil aviation, commercial and military navies, submarine navigation systems, and international organizations such as NATO and the International Hydrographic Organization.
The model data also has applications in everyday life. Mobile phone and car manufacturers incorporate this information to calibrate digital compasses and navigation maps integrated into their products, ensuring accurate orientation in different regions of the planet.
One of the main new features of WMM2025 is the inclusion of a high-resolution version, known as WMMHR2025. This improvement reduces the margin of accuracy from about 3,300 kilometers to about 300 kilometers at the equator, optimizing course calculation in complex areas, especially in polar regions.
For everyday activities, such as commuting to work or using a cell phone, the impact of the magnetic pole’s movement is virtually imperceptible. However, on long journeys and in sensitive environments, such as transcontinental flights or ocean and polar navigation, an outdated model can lead to errors of several tens of kilometers in the planned route.
The WMM2025 also updates information on magnetic blackout zones near the poles. In these areas, the behavior of the magnetic field reduces the reliability of compasses. This data is key for planning polar air routes and for scientific missions that depend on accurate and safe magnetic navigation.
