North Magnetic Pole - North Geomagnetic Pole

North Geomagnetic Pole

As a first-order approximation, the Earth's magnetic field can be modelled as a simple dipole (like a bar magnet), tilted about 10° with respect to the Earth's rotation axis (which defines the Geographic North and Geographic South Poles) and centered at the Earth's centre. The North and South Geomagnetic Poles are the antipodal points where the axis of this theoretical dipole intersects the Earth's surface. If the Earth's magnetic field were a perfect dipole then the field lines would be vertical at the Geomagnetic Poles, and they would coincide with the Magnetic Poles. However, the approximation is imperfect, and so the Magnetic and Geomagnetic Poles lie some distance apart.

Like the North Magnetic Pole, the North Geomagnetic Pole attracts the north pole of a bar magnet and so is in a physical sense actually a south magnetic pole. It is the centre of the region of the magnetosphere in which the Aurora Borealis can be seen. As of 2005 it was located at approximately 79°44′N 71°47′W / 79.74°N 71.78°W / 79.74; -71.78 (Geomagnetic North Pole 2005 est), off the northwest coast of Greenland, but it is now drifting away from North America and toward Siberia.