There are numerous contenders for the title of the 'actual' North Pole. Discover Magazine reported that Canada Post is using the "postal code H0H 0H0 for letters to Santa Claus," one might even get one back. However, the address is not designated to any territory; this particular "North Pole" may only be a post office box.
In the meantime, North Pole in Alaska, Fairbanks' suburb, features an all-year-round Christmas village and the jolly old elf's giant statue, although its name is a "misnomer." This small city in Alaska is, in fact, located 125 miles outside the Arctic Circle.
Even if an individual is looking for the North Pole as an ordinary occurrence, instead of a cultural touchstone, one has still got a choice of candidates. Four distinctive sites have authentic claims to the title by a number of criteria.
1. The 'True North'
Identified as the "Geographic North Pole," the "True North," according to Discovery Magazine, the point which the lines seen on a map running from north to south converge.
This North Pole is one terminus of the axis of Earth, the imaginary spindle around which this planet is rotating. Even when marked on a globe, the actual North and South Poles are said to be "not fixed points," as the Earth, being an ellipsoid instead of a perfect sphere, shakes ever so slightly in its spin.
Such an irregularity in polar rotation was verified by Seth Carlo Chandler, an American astronomer, in 1891. Several factors, specifically pressure changes on the seafloor, continuously impact the angular momentum of Earth.
As an outcome of this "Chandler wobble," the exact intersection on the surface of the Earth with its axis wanders yearly within a few meters' range.
2. The 'North Magnetic Pole'
The site of the geographic poles needs to be deduced by the Earth's observable rotation in relation to the fixed stars.
On the contrary, the North Magnetic Pole's location can be validated through direct observation. If one stands there, as he could, given that it can be occasionally accessed by land, either in Nunavut or Greenland, the needled in a pocket compass would attempt to flip vertical and plunge to the ground a la dowsing rod.
3. The 'Geomagnetic North Pole'
The magnetic field, which the dynamo action of the core of the earth generates extends far into interplanetary space.
This shape of this so-called "magnetosphere" is akin to an elongated teardrop, "10 Earth radii wide or 64,000 kilometers," vast at its sunward side and expanding hundreds of Earth radii behind.
Essentially, this geomagnetic field is deflecting solar wind, as well as cosmic rays, highly charged elements that, in large doses, would conquer terrestrial life.
The geomagnetic poles denote the points where the axis of the magnetosphere passes through the planet and have been somewhat stable over time.
For many years now, this North Pole site has lain on Ellesmere Island in Nunavut, an extensive northern Canadian territory.
4. Poles of Inaccessibility
Of all the North Poles, this one, also known as the "Northern Pole of Inaccessibility," exactly 85 degrees and 48 minutes north latitude by over 175 degrees and nine minutes west long latitude, is what's considered in science as the "odd man out."
It is identified, not by any of the properties of physics but by geography. Fascinatingly enough, this appropriately-titled site is certainly the "middle of nowhere."
Poles of inaccessibility are said to be appearances of preoccupation of geographers with extreme places, which include the highest, the lowest, and even the most remote.
The said poles are the points found on the map at which, either on sea or land, one is furthest from a coast. Each continent, and each ocean, has its own "pole of inaccessibility."
Check out more news and information on North Pole in Science Times.
