Maps: March 2019 Archives

NOAA Historical Declination Viewer

An interactive map showing historical magnetic variation (the angle between true north and the direction a magnetic compass will point) since 1590. The movement of the north magnetic pole has accelerated in recent years. Since 1963, magnetic north has moved from 75 degrees north in the northern islands of Canada, to 86 degrees north in the middle of the Arctic Ocean.

This Forbes story explains the impact of the magnetic pole shift on navigation.