Survey tracks current position of South Magnetic Pole

Abstract

The search for the Earth's magnetic dip poles—the principal points on the surface where the geomagnetic field is vertical—was driven initially by a combination of adventurism and the need for magnetic compass correction information for navigation. The position and drift of the magnetic poles remain topics of popular interest today and are of scientific value; e.g., for testing the accuracy of global field models in polar regions. The South Magnetic Pole, first reached in January 1909 by Edgeworth David, Douglas Mawson, and Alistair Mackay during an epic man‐hauled sledge journey onto the interior of the Antarctic Plateau, drifted out to sea in about 1960.