photo contest - Yacht Essentials

What Direction Are We Moving?
which is also shifting and results in an ever-changing
magnetic field. Over the past 100 years, magnetic
north has moved 685 miles or 1,100 kilometers from
Arctic Canada toward Siberia.
Throughout time, mariners have been instrumental in
documenting the variations between true north and
magnetic north. The first person known to have used
a compass as a navigational aid was Zheng He (1371-
1435) from the Yunnan province in China. He made seven
ocean voyages between 1405 and 1433. Captain James
Cook (1728-1779) was a British explorer, navigator and
cartographer who measured and recorded for posterity
magnetic fields from all over the world.
58 YACHT ESSENTIALS
The first reading of the north magnetic pole dates back
to 1831, when Sir John Ross and his ship were searching
for the Northwest Passage and became ice-bound. To
pass the time, Sir John sent out a team with a compass
to take readings. This team of mariners found a dipole,
or an area with compass readings that pointed both to
the north and to the south. They discovered the north
magnetic pole located in what is now Nunavut, Canada.
Magnet north and true north are also the same in a very
narrow corridor in the Bermuda/ Devil’s Triangle.
Normally, a compass points toward magnetic north. The
difference between the two is known as compass variation
by mariners and declination by land lovers. The amount of
VARIATION 1940 TO 2011 NEW ORLEANS, LA – 29 93N, 090 07W
YEAR VARIATION CHANGE IN VARIATION / YEAR
1940 6 0 20’ E 0 0 1’ E
1960 5 0 47’ E 0 o 3’W
1985 2 o 52’ E 0 o 6’W
2005 0 o 37’ E 0 o 7’W
2011 0 o 14 W 0 o 7’W