Compasses going crazy...Theories and Research

That 40 ton device could GENERATE A MAGNETIC FIELD 250.000 TIMES GREATER THAN THAT OF THE EARTH.

And that is believable to you? Sounds pretty farfetched to me, got any credible sources on that?

Located in NYC..Compass is correct; North is North..

I am afraid I am going to need the help of more knowledgeable members in order for me to Deny My Own Ignorance. I was hoping that this would end up just being a painful and slightly public lesson in compass use but...
My readings are still off. I realized to my humiliation that I had not set the declination on the Suunto Vector. So I got out the manual and looked it up on line to be sure. Went the NOAA site and calculated the declination. Inputed it into the wrist-top computer and... My readings remain the same. North is still showing way to the W of where it should be (to my mind and experience anyway). Can someone please help me out with this? I would really like to know that at least I am reading this correctly.

OK. How about this. If declination in SoCal is 12-13 degrees E then if I point the compass at 0 degrees N then does that mean that I should set the 'zeros' on the bezel to approx 12-13 degrees and then point that way for magnetic N? If that is the case then I still am seeing that there is a shift of about 8 degrees from where N used to be, shifted now to the W. This must seem totally hilarious to any engineering or navigation professionals out there.

reply to post by Frater210

Forget the bezel. It tells you nothing. It is used for navigation.

Tonight go out and find Polaris (the North Star). The needle of your compass will be pointing 12º to the right (east) of it.
www.onr.navy.mil...

reply to post by THEDUDE86
The one that needs to learn is not the OP. You keep saying a "Reference Point" There is no reference point you or anyone can see in the Magnetic Field. My House was set up by the Magnectic North 11 years ago, Now that should qualifiy as a reference point right? It has lined up to Magnetic North until last year, it was 2 degrees east, Now, It is exactly Northeast, my house didn't move and the earth didn't move, but the Magnetic Fields North Pole has move a lot and even more in the Eastern part of the US. When the earth has a Magnetic Flip Poles can form over US, or anywhere in the world. The Magnetic Field can produce many poles. That is what appears to be happening, A North Magnectic Pole will go Clock Wise, North to East, It is the Magnetic Field of the Earth that causes the Water to go down the drain Clock Wise in the North and Counter Clock Wise in the South of the World. Now see you learned something.

reply to post by Phage
Now that is true all compasses are off of True North. A Compass only tells where Mangnetic North is.

I have been a long-time lurker, but finally joined to post a reply. Six weeks ago I went outside 100 feet away from my home or any power lines, etc. and had a reading of 11 degrees to the east of true north. This was similar to the airport in Florida that had to repaint the lines on it's runway. From the same position today I get 24 degrees to the west of true north, a 35 degree difference. Something is affecting the magnetic fields big time. I live in NE NC about 100 miles from the ocean.

reply to post by coolottie

Yes.
Unless you are standing next to a magnet or a large hunk of steel.

reply to post by Phage


Thank you. I feel now like I am closing in on properly using my compass. I will find Polaris tonight and check it out. Things have cleared up here so I should be able to see it . I will report back. Have a good one.
P.S. Aren't you a Red Lectroid from Planet 10?

Originally posted by TKDRL

That 40 ton device could GENERATE A MAGNETIC FIELD 250.000 TIMES GREATER THAN THAT OF THE EARTH.

And that is believable to you? Sounds pretty farfetched to me, got any credible sources on that?

The link I posted should be working. Lot's of good info there. The quote I posted I believe is from the New York Times. We can both look further into it, let me know what you find.

Earthquakes sometimes bugger up the magnetic field (and compasses) temporarily - and the planet is rocking right now. Remember - the effects do "jump around."

Today's over-5M quakes to 17:49UT.

2011-03-22 17:49:50.0
1hr 19min ago
35.36 N 140.80 E 2 5.0 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
2011-03-22 16:12:06.0
2hr 57min ago
35.80 N 141.53 E 10 5.7 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
2011-03-22 16:05:47.0
3hr 03min ago
35.79 N 141.61 E 10 5.3 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
2011-03-22 15:49:28.0
3hr 19min ago
39.24 N 142.31 E 30 5.4 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
2011-03-22 15:03:46.0
4hr 05min ago
35.87 N 141.56 E 10 6.1 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
2011-03-22 14:45:23.0
4hr 23min ago
33.20 S 15.88 W 33 5.0 SOUTHERN MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
2011-03-22 13:50:51.0
5hr 18min ago
35.88 N 141.58 E 10 5.9 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
2011-03-22 13:31:29.0
5hr 37min ago
33.03 S 16.02 W 10 6.2 SOUTHERN MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
2011-03-22 12:56:25.0
6hr 12min ago
37.12 N 144.01 E 29 5.8 OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
2011-03-22 12:04:07.0
7hr 05min ago
36.23 N 141.40 E 34 5.5 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
2011-03-22 12:01:22.0
7hr 07min ago
36.89 N 143.36 E 2 5.6 OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
2011-03-22 11:21:38.0
7hr 47min ago
39.81 N 143.09 E 25 5.5 OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
2011-03-22 10:18:58.0
8hr 50min ago
40.30 N 142.47 E 10 5.2 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
2011-03-22 09:44:28.0
9hr 24min ago
39.89 N 143.45 E 10 6.6 OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
2011-03-22 09:19:06.0
9hr 50min ago
37.35 N 141.83 E 30 6.3 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
F
2011-03-22 07:18:45.0
11hr 50min ago
37.23 N 144.09 E 10 6.6 OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
2011-03-22 05:59:35.0
35.74 N 141.66 E 23 5.2 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
2011-03-22 05:44:32.2
57.44 S 25.83 W 84 5.0 SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS REGION
2011-03-22 03:38:34.0
35.26 N 141.01 E 10 5.9 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
2011-03-22 01:13:47.0
36.15 N 141.80 E 33 5.1 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN

reply to post by Tecumte


The post is at prisonplanet, not NY times. It doesn't seem to include any reference links etc. Normally I won't even bother going to a link that leads there, but I hoped they at least included reference links and gave it a shot. I somehow doubt it is possible to create a magnet even equal to the earth's magnet pull, let alone 250000 times greater... Could be wrong though.

Can someone please explain to me if the recent shifts in the North-South Axis change where True North appears?

Truing up True North, or a star for reference, when where that appears may have moved because the Earth's axis moved seems like a potentially important detail.

But I don't know enough about this - really would just love a model of the whole thing.

reply to post by TKDRL

Actually there are plenty of magnets stronger than the Earth's magnetic field. At 50º latitude the Earth's field has a strength of about 58 µT (microtesla).

That magnet on your fridge? About 5mT, 86 times stronger than the Earth's field.

That magnet in your stereo speaker? 1T, 17,000 times stronger.

Ever had an MRI? 2T, 34,000 times stronger.

The Earth's magnetic field is not strong but it is very large. No magnet is going to change it. But, like a little refrigerator magnet, they can affect where a compass points if they are close enough to it.

en.wikipedia.org...

Well don't I feel like an idiot lol.... Guess that is what I get for making assumptions... I have some pretty strong magnets I have found in busted speakers and computer parts, never guessed they were anywhere near let alone stronger than the earth's magnetic pull.

illinois here. my compass as well has shifted to the east by 30° as compared to the ast time I checked before this which was about a year ago from same exact location. Honestly though i do remember a thread awhile back about how the pole was moving at a somewhat slow rate towards russia. Which would account for these new readings.

PEACE
JC

I found an interesting model of the Magnetic Crustal Field Model provided by NOAA. The map provided



Which is nice for comparison to the anecdotal reports on this list.

reply to post by CyberGarp


Hmmm according to that map, I am in the 200 zone, might explain why my compasses are reading how they should be.

reply to post by TKDRL

200 nanoteslas is 0.2 microteslas. That's less than 1% of the total field strength. A compass wouldn't see much difference even if the local field was reversed.