MAGNETIC NORTH POLE SHIFTS THOUSANDS OF MILES FROM HUDSON BAY, CANADA, TO RUSSIAN SIBERIA.

Interior of planet Earth, our home a moving space station, in space.

MAGNETIC NORTH POLE HAS SHIFTED 4000 MILES FROM HUDSON BAY NORTH OF CANADA, TO RUSSIAN SIBERIA.

So what are the facts:

Since 1860, the magnetic pole shift has more than doubled every 50 years.
During the past 150 years, the pole shift has been in the same direction.
During the past 10 years, the magnetic north pole has shifted nearly half of the total distance of the past 50 years!
Pole Shift has more than doubled each of the last 50 years.

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What they see mimics the real Earth: The magnetic field waxes and wanes, poles drift and, occasionally, flip. Change is normal, they've learned. And no wonder. The source of the field, the outer core, is itself seething, swirling, turbulent. "It's chaotic down there," notes Glatzmaier. The changes we detect on our planet's surface are a sign of that inner chaos.

They've also learned what happens during a magnetic flip. Reversals take a few thousand years to complete, and during that time--contrary to popular belief--the magnetic field does not vanish. "It just gets more complicated," says Glatzmaier. Magnetic lines of force near Earth's surface become twisted and tangled, and magnetic poles pop up in unaccustomed places. A south magnetic pole might emerge over Africa, for instance, or a north pole over Tahiti. Weird. But it's still a planetary magnetic field, and it still protects us from space radiation and solar storms.

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Above: Supercomputer models of Earth's magnetic field. On the left is a normal dipolar magnetic field, typical of the long years between polarity reversals. On the right is the sort of complicated magnetic field Earth has during the upheaval of a reversal. [more]

And, as a bonus, Tahiti could be a great place to see the Northern Lights. In such a time, Larry Newitt's job would be different. Instead of shivering in Resolute Bay, he could enjoy the warm South Pacific, hopping from island to island, hunting for magnetic poles while auroras danced overhead.

Sometimes, maybe, a little change can be a good thing.