Talk:North Pole

I don't get this (unless there is some legerdemain involved, my compass points north, which is to the north of my current location--how can the pole to the north be a south pole?): Tokerboy

1. The north magnetic pole, being the magnetic pole of the Earth's magnetic field. It is so named due to its proximity to the geographic pole, but is in fact a south magnetic pole. (Either that, or every magnet is mislabelled. Magnetic opposites attract, and your magnet "N" points North!)

I saw on a Newton's Apple episode many years ago that what is called the north magnetic pole is in fact the south pole of the earth's magnetic field. This fact was later confirmed by one of my geology professors but I haven't been able to find a printed confirmation from a reputable source. A figure in one of my geology textbooks does show the lines of force for the earth's magnetic field go into the north magnetic pole as if it were actually the south pole of a magnet though. --mav

It was noticed that one end of bar magnets pointed northward long before the reason for this was understood. By convention, the end of the magnet that pointed toward the north was called the "north seeking pole", and over time this is shortened to "north pole". The north-seeking pole of the magnet is being attracted to the south-seeking pole of the earth (opposites poles attract) - which happens to be in the geographic north. Confusing, but there it is. And to make it worse, some magnets are labeled wrong.... -- Someone else 07:23 Dec 30, 2002 (UTC)

Hm. Interesting. I just hope a magnetic pole shift happens soon to sort this all out. We are a couple hundred thousand years overdue. Just make sure you have plenty of sunscreen since the magnetosphere may not be able to protect us very well for some time afterward (but there is no evidence in the geologic record to suggest that mass extinctions occur during the transitions). --mav

I hope it's not as anticlimactic as the millenium...I'll have to order up some fireworks and some Biere de Miele to make the wait worthwhile.... :) --SE

It won't sort it out. The current situation is relatively simple. If the Earth's magnetic poles reverse, people will relabel their compasses so that they still point to geographic north. The confusion will be at least an order of magnitude larger :-)

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Can someone please explain what the difference is between the magnetic pole and the geomagnetic pole, because they seem exactly the same to me. -- Daran 17:45, 27 Sep 2003 (UTC)

Belatedly, you get your wish.

Urhixidur 20:51, 2004 Dec 22 (UTC)

Astronomical north pole

We claim the following:

Astronomers define the north "geographic" pole of a planet in the solar system by the planetary pole that is in the same ecliptic hemisphere as the Earth's north pole.

This can't be right, because axial tilts greater than 90 degrees would be impossible. NASA defines north pole as follows here (http://roland.lerc.nasa.gov/~dglover/dictionary/n.html):

In astronomy, that end of the axis of rotation of a celestial body at which, when viewed from above, the body appears to rotate in a counter-clockwise direction.

This better matches what I thought the north pole was, and also explains why NASA would list the axial tilts (http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/index.html) of Uranus and Venus as 98 and 177 degrees, respectively. --P3d0 17:42, Dec 22, 2004 (UTC)

NASA can do as it wishes, but the IAU definition wins any time. Just goes to show you must be careful to define what you mean when you say something.

Urhixidur 20:22, 2004 Dec 22 (UTC)

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Canadian Sovereignty of the North Pole

Removed this......

Nevertheless, the North Pole of the Earth may be said to be located in Canada. However, recently, Russia and Denmark are poised to contest this point. In the mid-20th Century, Canada made an official claim to the pole; if no compelling opposition is presented by the mid-21st Century, the pole will officially be considered part of Canada.

The sector principle that Canada uses to claim waters to the north pole is very controversial. The United States in particular refuses to accept it and this.