"A storm is raging in the center of the Earth. Nearly 2,000 miles beneath our feet, in the swirling, spinning ball of liquid iron that constitutes our planet’s core and generates its magnetic field, a jet has formed, roiling the molten material beneath the Arctic.
This geological gust was enough to send Earth’s magnetic North Pole skittering across the globe. The place to which a compass needle points is shifting toward Siberia at a pace of 30 miles a year.
But thanks to a political storm in Washington, scientists haven’t been able to post an emergency update the World Magnetic Model, which cell phone GPS systems and military navigators use to orient themselves. Roughly half of staffers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which hosts the model and publishes related software, are furloughed due to the ongoing partial government shutdown, now in its 26th day."
Sarah Kaplan reports for the Washington Post January 17, 2019.
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