Has Anyone Noticed That The Magnetic Pole Has Been Moving Around Erratically In The Last Few Days?

[The Eagle]

Yes, that's sounds like a possible candidate! From Wikipedia:

Ok that should be easy to verify, I imagine the needle of my compass should be back to it's normal position once the geomagnetic storm is over (if that's what caused the change)?

How long will the effects last? Will it be over by Sunday or will it last longer?

[snowflux]

Ok that should be easy to verify, I imagine the needle of my compass should be back to it's normal position once the geomagnetic storm is over (if that's what caused the change)?

How long will the effects last? Will it be over by Sunday or will it last longer?

According to the Wiki entry, up to a week or so.

Edit: Well detected, by the way! I can't believe that anyone other than an HPC veteran would have kept a compass in the same position and observed it for years without being paid to do so.

Edit: You're in illustrious company though:

From May 1806 until June 1807 the German Alexander von Humboldt surveyed the bearing of a compass in Berlin. On 21 December 1806 he registered severe disturbances and Aurorae could be seen in that night.

[The Eagle]

According to the Wiki entry, up to a week or so.

Ok, then I will update this thread in a week with my findings (whether the needle moved back to it's 'normal' position or not).

Edit: Well detected, by the way! I can't believe that anyone other than an HPC veteran would have kept a compass in the same position and observed it for years without being paid to do so.

I have always had a very curious mind, I guess that's why I ended up on HPC rather than for example mumsnet.

[Nuggets Mahoney]

I've been clicking through data for a few stations across the globe in the link I posted above, looking at magnetic declination (the difference between Magnetic North and True North) yesterday, a week ago, a fortnight ago

It's barely budged, if at all, for any of them

[The Eagle]

I've been clicking through data for a few stations across the globe in the link I posted above, looking at magnetic declination (the difference between Magnetic North and True North) yesterday, a week ago, a fortnight ago

It's barely budged, if at all, for any of them

Ok but if those measurements aren't affected by the solar flare, then that would be correct.

I mean my compass is affected by the solar flare hence it moved, while those measurements aren't and hence they show that the geomagnetic pole hasn't moved more than normal (I assume the geomagnetic pole isn't affected by the solar flare?).

[Nuggets Mahoney]

e.g. the daily chart from the French station I posted earlier, this one dated 1st April

Magnetic declination 0.08W

Declination on 11th 0.09W

The compass needle would have drifted 0.01 degrees over that period

[corevalue]

I have found that keyboards cause huge deviations in compasses, and laptops are even worse. I just changed a broken screen, and was surprised to find several strong magnets surrounding the screen. Why they were there, I've no idea. As the screen frame is steel, that sets up a large magnetic dipole. Haven't moved your computer around have you?

As for magnetic storms, I once had to manually degauss an old colour CRT TV after one, where the tube had been magnetised beyond the recovery of the built-in degaussing coils (shadow-mask CRTs normally were demagnetised at every startup).

[Nuggets Mahoney]

Ok but if those measurements aren't affected by the solar flare, then that would be correct.

I mean my compass is affected by the solar flare hence it moved, while those measurements aren't and hence they show that the geomagnetic pole hasn't moved more than normal (I assume the geomagnetic pole isn't affected by the solar flare?).

Hmmm, that would be ...outside of my comfort zone

It could be that a flare induces some kind of local electrical/ magnetic effects which magnetometers are shielded from. But I wouldn't claim to know.

[The Eagle]

Haven't moved your computer around have you?

Nope, didn't move the PC or the monitor and it's nowhere near the compass anyway.

Also no TVs in this flat (gave up on TV well over 10 years ago).

[Riedquat]

Nope, didn't move the PC or the monitor and it's nowhere near the compass anyway.

Also no TVs in this flat (gave up on TV well over 10 years ago).

Moving stuff around in another flat was mentioned earlier. Maybe not a cooker but speakers have large magnets in them, I suppose that might do it. I like the solar storm explanation more though, sounds like something interesting to try setting up myself (maybe a use for that Raspberry Pi I was given for Christmas).

[The XYY Man]

Poles moving around erratically...?

They always do mate - it's all those friggin' left-hand drive cars they drive...

XYY

[Snafu]

Respect for monitoring a compass for no particular reason

[The Eagle]

Respect for monitoring a compass for no particular reason

Actually I started this 4/5 years ago when I read about the accelerated move of the magnetic pole from Canada towards Siberia and the possible chance of a magnetic pole reversal.

So there was a reason: curiosity to monitor this phenomenon, it's not like it takes up much time, just a quick glance at the compass every few days or so.

Other people set up their own weather stations and accurately record local weather over many years simply as a hobby, that's deserves far more respect!

[Bloo Loo]

I think the solar flare is targetting my left leg.

bloody hurts.

[Hectors House]

First off because the earth spins so fast it actually wobbles, this causes the magnetic poles to wander around a bit. It may look like they are going one one way but sooner or later they will be going back the opposite way (think of your finger drawing a small circle on the top of a football).

Not sure where this information about the north pole moving in a straight line has come from (although the gutter press thought it was a good story to print that the north pole was going to end up in southern Siberia once!). If you look at OS maps over the years you will see they are marked with magnetic north pole and tell you how to correct the variation for subsequent years

http://www.ussartf.org/compass_basics.htm

Apparently the north pole moves in a complete circle counter clockwise every 26000 years (tbh honest I thought it was a lot less than that!)

[happy_renting]

Have you had a metal plate put in your skull recently?

[justthisbloke]

New bra?

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/weird-news/hillwalkers-warned-over-potentially-disastrous-1826534

[justthisbloke]

Respect for monitoring a compass for no particular reason

Indeed.

Is this going to another duty for the HPC proletariat? Stashing gold and beans. Making homebrew. Running barefoot. Fasting most of the week. And now, compass watching over periods of years?

[Bossybabe]

Poles moving around erratically...?

They always do mate - it's all those friggin' left-hand drive cars they drive...

XYY

[Bossybabe]

New bra?

http://www.dailyreco...astrous-1826534

Yes, bras are a problem. Mine regularly set off the detectors in airports.

[The Eagle]

Have you had a metal plate put in your skull recently?

Only if I have been temporarily abducted by aliens who then also erased my memories of the operation and the abduction....

[The Eagle]

Is this going to another duty for the HPC proletariat? Stashing gold and beans. Making homebrew. Running barefoot. Fasting most of the week. And now, compass watching over periods of years?

Would you rather have a world full of eccentric individuals or a world full of xfactor watching zombie clones?

[Nuggets Mahoney]

Is this going to another duty for the HPC proletariat? Stashing gold and beans. Making homebrew. Running barefoot. Fasting most of the week. And now, compass watching over periods of years?

Ain't it great

Don't forget the allotment as well

Apparently the north pole moves in a complete circle counter clockwise every 26000 years (tbh honest I thought it was a lot less than that!)

I think we can come up with fixate on something a little more dramatic than that...

A geomagnetic reversal is a change in the Earth's magnetic field such that the positions of magnetic north and magnetic south are interchanged. The Earth's field has alternated between periods of normal polarity, in which the direction of the field was the same as the present direction, and reverse polarity, in which the field was the opposite. These periods are called chrons. The time spans of chrons are randomly distributed with most being between 0.1 and 1 million years[citation needed] with an average of 450,000 years. Most reversals are estimated to take between 1,000 and 10,000 years. The latest one, the Brunhes–Matuyama reversal, occurred 780,000 years ago. However,a study published in 2012 by a group from the German Research Center for Geosciences suggests that a brief complete reversal occurred only 41,000 years ago during the last ice age. The reversal lasted only about 440 years with the actual change of polarity lasting around 250 years. During this change the strength of the magnetic field dropped to 5% of its present strength.[1] Brief disruptions that do not result in reversal are called geomagnetic excursions.

[MrPin]

Poles moving around erratically...?

They always do mate - it's all those friggin' left-hand drive cars they drive...

XYY

That could be me!

On topic, it is "believed" that the Earth's magnetic field is about half as weak as in Roman times, and a swap over might be near, by which I mean within a thousand years! I have no knowledge of how that might affect pigeons!

[the gardener]

Have you got an electric bike, perhaps leaning against the wall nearby. They have strong neodymium magnets in the motor.