The Earth's magnetic north pole is moving PHOTO/VIDEO

While the geographic North Pole remains fixed in place (at the very top of the Earth's rotation axis), the world magnetic model accurately marks the magnetic North Pole, where the Earth's magnetic field points straight down, a perfectly vertical magnetic field.

And as the iron and nickel within our planet shift, so does the Earth's magnetic field, meaning that the North (and South) Poles are also constantly in motion.

If you use a compass or GPS system, knowing exactly where those points are is crucial. Global geomagnetic field modeler William Brown of BGS says they have not studied this parameter in such detail before.

"Magnetic North has been moving slowly around Canada since the 1500s, but in the last 20 years it has accelerated towards Siberia, increasing its speed every year until about five years ago, when it suddenly slowed from a 50 to 35 kilometers per year, the largest deceleration in speed that we've ever seen," says Brown.

We have been at peace for at least five years

Research suggests that two giant magnetic lobes, one under Canada and one under Siberia, are driving the shift in magnetic north. Sometimes the changes are dramatic enough to require an immediate update, outside of the usual five-year cycle.

We now have a more accurate map of magnetic north, one that should be functional and accurate for at least another five years. A higher resolution map is also available for the first time, offering more than 10 times more detail: it has a spatial resolution of around 300 km at the equator compared to the standard 3,300 km.

According to BGS researchers, if you had made the 8,500km journey from South Africa to the UK using the old model, you would have ended up 150km further from your intended destination by the end of the journey.

Map and logistics companies, as well as governments and national agencies, will need to update the data. We as users on our phones and navigation applications will not have to do anything, the data update will happen automatically.

The north magnetic pole was first discovered by Sir James Clark Ross in northern Canada back in 1831. Since then, researchers have been able to gradually track it with greater precision, using measurements on the ground around the world as well as readings from satellites in space.